Fallen
by fairiehearts
Summary: What will you do when he disappears from your life? TK's friends and family struggle through the pain left when the boy disappears. This fic is totally different from my first one "His Return" and its a parallel universe you could say... Takari twist
1. Captured

**Takari, TK fic =) The following takes place totally apart from my last fic. Lol. Hahah this one is kinda based off a dream I had but that's what I find cool about it. I think its also a pretty creepy story but that's my opinion hahaha. So a little specs. TK, Kari, Davis and Ken are 18, and heading to university. Yolei's 19. Cody's 14 (I think, I might adjust his age a bit). Izzy and Mimi are 20. Sora, Tai, and Matt are 21 and finally Joe is 22. Anyways I hope you guys enjoy. **

Chapter 1 Captured

"TK," Kari poked the blonde and realized he was fast asleep. She gaze upwards to the sun glare right at them. Though under the tree, they were barely protected from the sun. The boy was sound asleep on Kari's lap. _How adorable._ Kari thought to herself giggling. Careful not to make him stir, she reached for her bag and pulled out her camera. The brunette then pointed the camera and took a picture of the sleeping boy.

At that the boy, slowly woke up to see Kari's camera pointed right at him. Immediately TK sat up right and glared at the brunette. "What did you do?" He questioned her.

She feigned innocence, "Uhh... me? Nothing..." She said as she hid the camera behind her back.

"Really now..." He went to reach for the camera, but she immediately stood up and ran off. He chased after her until he tripped and fell on top of the brunette. There he took his chance and made for the camera.

"Hey now give it back," Kari demanded.

"Let me see first," He said opening the camera's memory and immediately saw the photo of him asleep. He turned a bit red. "Hey now," he said, "this is a really bad photo of me... maybe I should delete it."

Kari exhaled, "No way... you looked so cute lying there asleep, I just had to take a picture."

"Well too bad."

As TK was about to hit the delete button, Kari gasped, "Look!"

TK turned his direction to the place where she pointed to but found nothing. In that instant Kari grabbed her camera, taking it away from the blonde. She stuck out her tongue at him and quickly put her camera back to her bag.

"Hmmmph," TK moped, "Fine I guess I'll let you keep it."

Kari smiled, "Thanks."

He rubbed the backside of his head and realized his hat wasn't on. TK looked around the perimeter and couldn't see it.

"You looking for something?"

"Yeah, I can't find my... oh" Kari was holding his fisherman's hat in her hands, grinning. TK took it back. "Thanks."

"No Problem." She linked her arm with TK's as they headed out of the park.

TK's pocket began to vibrate. "Hmmm...?" He took out his D-terminal from his pocket.

"What is it?" Kari wondered

"It's a message from Davis..." TK sighed.

"Davis?" Kari repeated.

"Yeah..." he began to read the message, "Hmmm... a party... wanna go Kari?"

Kari thought about it for a minute, "When, where, why?"

"Tonight at 8, his place, for Grad."

"Hmmph, that's the third one this week."

"Well this is Davis we're talking about," TK said, "So you wanna go?"

"I guess so," Kari didn't know why but something made her stomach knot. However she decided to shake it off.

"Okay," He checked his watch, "You know, it's still 4, we've got a good four hours til it's starts."

She smiled, "Alright, then let's get something to eat first."

TK smiled right back at her, "Okay."

Kari raced ahead as they passed through the park on the way to Davis'.

TK walked at his own pace taking in the night air. Kari noticed this and turned around.

"TK, hurry up," She said, "You're as slow as a tortoise."

"Hey now," TK started, "You do know that the tortoise won the race against the hare. Besides don't you think it's really pretty right now?"

She looked up to gaze at the full moon above with the twinkling stars around it. Some of the blossom petals falling off the trees were taken by the wind. "Beautiful," Kari gasped. TK wrapped his arms around her and placed his chin on her shoulder.

In her ear he whispered, "Yeah... it's really pretty."

They stood like that for a moment. Take in the scenery around them.

"TK..." She paused.

"Kari..." He breathed.

A shot rang through the air which startled the two. As if instinctively TK began to guard Kari behind him.

"My, my," rang a cold female voice, "Look what we have here..."

"Who... who are you? What do you want?" TK demanded.

"Brave are you?" She removed her hood, in the moonlight, her face was clearly visible, she seemed to be around her 30s and was breathtakingly beautiful for her age. Her scarlet hair flowed gracefully til her back. Her face was thin and had a pinkish tint. She had an elegant body, thin yet toned. She wore a long grey trench coat. Her smile was cold, "You're quite cute yourself." She analyzed the boy from head to toe.

TK and Kari glared right at her. Her gun was in her hand, still smoking from the last shot.

Her smile grew wider, "Alright... it's decided."

The couple took a step back. "What is?" TK tried not to make his voice falter. The woman raised her arm, lifting the gun.

"I've decided to make you mine... that's all." She fired her gun again.

It was as if time moved still in that instant. TK turned around in shock. He looked at Kari, her eyes filled with tears. Her pain was visible...

In that moment, TK began to cough up blood. He fell to his knees. TK touched his stomach and it felt sticky and wet. "Ka-ri..." His body fell over and stiffened. His heart rate dropped.

"...tk...Tk...TK!" Kari screamed her lungs out.

"Little girl, no need to shout." The woman made a tsk-tsk sound, as if she were a mother scolding her child.

Kari's sorrow turned to rage. "You... you did this to him!" She charged after the woman trying to throw a few punches and kicks. Yet the woman dodged them all and countered with a punch to Kari's stomach. The brunette fell to the ground. Her eye's began to droop. Her vision began to falter as the tears distorted her view.

"Now, now," The woman said, "A little girl like you should go to bed. It's late you know." Kari watched unable to move as she saw the woman's blurred figure approach TK. She couldn't speak her voice failed her and then she blacked out.

_TK...TK......_

_Captured in a single shot. Those moments forever embedded in her mind. _

**So what do you guys think? Please comment and review.**


	2. Missing

Chapter 2 Missing

Sirens blared in the quiet skies of Odaiba. Police rushed to the park and saw blood spilt.

"We have a possible homicide in the vicinity. A large puddle of blood is on walkway with no trail heading in either direction. A young woman has been found unconscious however she is not the cause of the blood..."

Kari could not open her eyes. She could hear voices around her but she could not move. Everything was a blur. All she knew was that TK was gone. He was taken away, by that random act. Her thoughts caused her eyes to tear.

She fell unconscious once more...

* * *

Tai arrived at his family's door step. It was nearly midnight but he had decided to stay over for the weekend. His laundry needed to be done and he really didn't want to do on his own. He knocked on the door anticipating someone to welcome him in. No answer. _Huh... no one's home..._ Luckily he remembered this time to bring his spare key. After the last time he came home he knew better than to forget it.

He opened the door and found the house dark. He dumped all his stuff in the room he and Kari had shared and headed to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. When he reached the refrigerator he noticed a note taped on it.

_Gone to a business conference be back in a week._

_- Dad & Mom_

Tai sighed as he took his glass and crashed on the couch. "Great," he moaned, "Now how am I gonna do my laundry." He turned on the TV and began watching some anime that was playing.

About two hours passed and Tai was fast asleep. _Ring Ring._ He awoke with a start. The phone continued to ring. He went over to answer it.

"JEEZ YOU WERE HOME!" cried a voice from the other line, "MISSING MY PARTY! THAT'S NOT COOL!"

"Huh..." he said half asleep, "Who's this?"

The voice gasped, "TK YOU'RE THERE TOO?"

"Why would TK be in here?" Tai was getting annoyed. Then he got a bit angry imagining TK with Kari ... in the apartment... ALONE! "Wait a sec, TK in the apartment with KARI!"

"huh..." the voice paused, "Oh... Tai? Why're you here?"

"Why not this is my place!" The image continued to roll in his mind.

"Jeez. Sorry man, this is Davis," the boy apologized.

"Oh... Why're you calling at 2 in the morning?"

"Well TK and Kari said they'd come to my party today but they never showed," Davis sounded annoyed, "I even tried messaging them on the D-tectors and calling their cellphones but they never answered."

"Well she hasn't come home yet..." Tai then began to put two and two together and his big brother instincts began to run on high, "WAIT a second! What if they went to his place? OR A MOTEL!" Tai was having an anxiety attack. "Kari.... TK...." He began to fume a little.

It wasn't a smart idea to let these two have a conversation about Kari and TK's relationship. Tai knew they were eighteen, but she was still his little sister no matter how old she was. Even though Davis accepted that fact, he still couldn't quite get over it, and kind of began acting like another Tai on the issue. They agreed to begin their search by calling everyone they knew.

Most of the events resulted in an angered voice yelling at one of them for waking them up and slamming the phones back in their place. The final phone call was to Matt by Tai. Which only resulted in additional fuel to the fire. Matt rushed to the Kamiyas' place to commence Operation: find TK and Kari.

They ran through ideas until the sun began to rise at 4 in the morning.

_Ring Ring..._

"Tai phone!" Matt called from the living room. Tai came out of the bathroom and answered hoping it was one of the two who were MIA.

"Is this the Kamiya residence?" an unfamiliar voice asked.

Tai's eyes widened as Matt and Davis asked him who it was. "uhh... yes it is..." Tai replied back

"We have some unfortunate news..."

* * *

There was a beeping sound. It was coming from the outside world. It matched the beating of her heart but she didn't want to stir from her sleep. She didn't want to wake up. Because she knew if she did, he would not be there. Yes. She kept her eyes shut from the world, willing herself to stay within her mind.

It was a dream... or was it a memory. She could see a little girl in a yellow shirt and pink shorts meeting a boy dressed in all green for the first time. It was her and TK. She watched as scenes of battle flow by. Then it showed when Piedmon had cornered the two. All the other digidestined had already been captured and it was just the two of them. The youngest of the digidestined. Kari watched her younger self climb a rope which led to nowhere. She watched as the little crybaby tried to be brave for her. And she watched as the power in his heart had helped save the two of them from a fall which nearly killed them.

Then the world faded and morphed. She now watched them as eleven year olds. It was the first day of class and TK was introduced as a new student. They were together again and she loved it. Scenes flashed through that entire year. Laughing, playing, talking, fighting alongside and with their friends. Their digimon fought side by side and so did they. She watched the final moments of the battle against Malomyotismon and her dream disolved once more on his face.

Now was a new vision. They were no longer in the digital world, no. Kari could see a couple under a tree. She watched herself taking a photo of him asleep. Then watched as they chased each other around the park. As she watched, tears streamed from her eyes. Tears which she had only noticed after touching her face.

TK was her best friend. Her confidant. The one she...

* * *

"Where is she?" Tai demanded the receptionist.

"I beg your pardon," The nurse at the front desk was a bit startled.

"Kari Kamiya!" He yelled. Davis and Matt tried to calm him down, but he pushed them away. They had called the siblings' parents, however they only got their voicemail and decided to leave them a message hoping that the parents would call back soon. "Hurry please! I'm her brother."

"Kari Kamiya? Just calm down son and let me check..." The receptionist checked through her database. Tai was getting irritated. "Ah yes, she's in room 502d just take the elevator up and ..." Tai was already gone. Matt and Davis ran after him, muttering a quick thank you to the woman.

Tai reached 502d and his eyes immediately widened. There was his sister on the bed. She was unconscious and was on life support. She looked fine, except for the bandages visible. Tai rushed to her bedside and took her hand. "Kari..."

"Ahem," A deep voice from the doorway called. Tai looked up and saw a nurse in pink scrubs. He was tall and dark. "Can I help you with something?" He asked the brunette.

Tai stood up straight. "Ah, yes could you tell me what's wrong with her. I'm her brother, Tai Kamiya. Our parents are away on a business conference..." He felt the need to explain the situation.

The nurse paused for a moment. "Ah... I see. Well, Mr. Kamiya, your sister overall is fine. She has a couple fractured ribs and some cuts and bruises. She's having a little trouble breathing but overall nothing life threatening. Just let her rest and wake up on her own..."

Tai was relieved. Matt and Davis arrived just then, and Tai told them what the nurse told him. The two sighed in relief.

"Pardon me," The nurse spoke up, "But there are a couple of people here who would like to ask you boys a couple of questions since you are close to the patient."

"Sure, I guess," Tai had answered. Just then two police officers appeared and asked to speak with them inside.

Tai, Matt, and Davis sat in a row huddled around Kari's bedside. The officers were standing and the shorter one pulled out a notepad and pen.

"My name is Lieutenant Nakamura, and this is Officer Trente," The taller one said as he removed his hat, "May I first ask what your relation with the patient is?"

"Well I'm her brother, Tai Kamiya," Tai began.

"And I'm her friend, Davis Motomiya."

"Mhmm..." Officer Trente said as he jotted down notes, then he looked up and pointed to the blonde in the center, "And you sir?"

"Well my name is Matt Ishida," he explained, "... well my brother was supposed to be with her..." Matt began to worry about his own younger sibling.

"Aha... Do you know where your brother is now?" the lieutenant asked.

Matt shook his head, "I haven't talked to him since yesterday morning..."

Davis chimed in, "Well I had actually emailed him in the afternoon inviting them to my wicked party. He said that they would go but they never came..."

The two officers nodded and began to speak amongst themselves.

"Do you know where my brother is?" Matt was getting nervous.

Trente cleared his throat. "Well, Ms. Kamiya here was found unconscious in the vicinity of a possible crime... A pool of blood that did not belong to her was there, as well as a backpack and... a hat..."

"A hat... what hat?" Matt demanded.

Lieutenant Nakamura spoke up, "Calm down son. It was a beige fisherman's hat -"

"THAT'S TK'S HAT!" Matt cried.

There was a pause, as Trente continued to jot down notes.

"It is ...possible that your brother was a victim of a ... kidnapping and/or homicide..." the lieutenant was sympathetic.

Matt collapsed on the chair, his face burrowed deep into his hands. "no... no... it can't be," Matt muttered.

Davis punched his fist on the bed's railing. Tai glared at the window, fists clenched into balls.

"I know this may be hard for you..." Officer Trente drifted off.

"We will need to contact your parents immediately," Nakamura continued, "But first can you tell us how old was your brother?"

Matt was too choked up to speak.

"He's eighteen..." A familiar voice croaked. Tai's eyes widened and saw that his sister had already woken up. She immediately sat up and tried to remove her mask but a pain in her ribs caused her to wince.

"Kari..." Davis and Tai said in unison. Matt was still burrowed in sorrow. The two officers were surprised.

"I'm fine..." She tried to appear okay, but the expression on her face gave her away. Her eyes were distant, as if she wasn't in this world.

Tai looked worried, "Kari, you shouldn't try to move to much... you're in the hospital right now..."  
"I can see..." Kari responded, then she turned to the officers, "Sirs, you wanted to know how old TK is, Right? Well, he's eighteen."

The officers recovered from their shock. Lieutenant Nakamura cleared his throat. "Yes, well, thank you Ms. Kamiya. Now I know this might be hard for you, but could you tell us what happened last night?"

"Wait officers, my sister just woke up! She's-" Kari stopped her older brother from speaking.

She shook her head, "It's alright. I'll speak..." She turned to the policemen, "TK and I were on our way to our friend's party..." She saw Davis and pointed to him, "We were just looking up at the night sky... when..." Kari's mind flashed back to that night.

"Kari you don't have to -"

Kari interrupted Tai again, "...when we heard a gunshot. We looked around and saw this strange woman appear in front of us..."

"Could you describe this woman for us?" Trente asked her kindly.

"Yes... she was tall and in her thirtys. She was really thin but had an athletic body. She ... wore a trench coat and had long, red hair. She was really beautiful. Like almost perfect... her eyes... her eyes..." Kari couldn't remember what colour her eyes were, "...it was strange...her eyes just gave me a chill in my spine when I saw her..." she gulped, "TK started to ask her what she was doing but she ignored him... then she fired her gun. She hit TK right in the chest... and then there was blood... a lot of blood. I tried to fight her....she was good... she knocked me down... and -" Kari began to cry, "before I lost consciousness I could see her around TK... she ... she..." Kari couldn't speak anymore.

"That's enough..." Lieutenant Nakamura said, " I think you told us quite enough... Thank you."

"We'll put up a missing person's report for TK Ishida..." Trente said

"It's Takaishi," Matt spoke for the first time in a while. "Takeru 'TK' Takaishi..."

Trente looked at the young man's face, and decided it was best not to ask about the different name. "Yes very well... We will contact your families and let them know." With that the two officers left.

Matt stood up immediately and made for the door. Davis was going to say something to the blonde when Tai stopped him. "Davis, let him be." He looked to his sister who was wiping away her tears. "It'll be alright Kari," he tried to comfort her. "I'm sure we'll find him soon..."

* * *

A week had passed since the incident. When Matt's parents had found out, his mother had broken down into tears, his father tried his best to comfort his ex-wife. Matt became a little recluse, and barely spoke to anyone except to Sora and Tai. The rest of their friends were horrified. Mimi even rushed all the way from the US to be with them. It was a bittersweet reunion as they all came together for Kari's release from the hospital.

"Kari, I'm here to take you home," A smiling face with blue hair told her. Joe was a medical student at the hospital and took it as his responsibility to be Kari's helper while she was there. Tai was thankful as his friend really helped him out.

"Yeah Joe, I'll be done in a minute," She called back to him. Kari was finishing packing her backpack. There were flowers, balloons, and a giant teddy bear (from Davis) in her room and she was having a little trouble deciding if she should bring it all with her. As she was zipping up her pack she noticed something she had left behind on her bedside table. It was an old fisherman's hat. She held it in her hand and reminisced a bit, then put it in her bag. She turned to Joe who had a wheelchair ready. "Do I really have to?"

Joe sighed, "It's hospital policy Kari." Kari groaned as she sat in the chair. Joe rolled her to the lobby where her brother and parents were waiting for her.

"Thanks, man," Tai said. They had just arrived in the hospital.

"No worries," Joe replied, "Kari still has some stuff in her room so I'll just go and get it for her..."

"No, it's fine, we'll get it," Tai and Kari's parents said. They went upstair together to get the presents.

"How's she been?" Tai whispered to his friend.

"She's been fine, getting better, her moods getting better too." Joe told him, "...and what about...?"

Tai shook his head, "They haven't...." Joe understood.

Tai's parents returned with the giant teddy bear and the flowers and balloons and they all headed off.

"I'll meet you guys later, K?" Joe told them, "I just have to finish up here."

"Alright, see you." Tai replied.

For Kari, being at home again was like being in another world. It seemed unreal to her. It was as if everything that had happened before that day was a dream. Or that she was in a dream right now. Either way, there was a missing piece from her heart. She sat down on Tai's old bed and took out her camera from her backpack. She started to flip through the photos and found the one she was looking for. Kari then turned on her computer and attached her camera to it. She printed out the picture and taped it to the wall. She sat back down and just stared at it. (I really feel there should be music playing at this point)

There was a knock on the door. It was her mom. "Are you okay honey?" her mother asked her. She sat down beside her and wrapped her arms around her daughter.

"Yeah," Kari sighed, "I'll be fine." Her mom gave her a worried look.

"You know its okay to be sad... it's okay to cry..."

"I know... but I just can't cry anymore, mom. I've shed too many tears already, and now I can't anymore."

Kari's mom squeezed her tight, "Kari, sweetie, everything will be okay, it'll just take time and we just need to hope for the future," she paused, "If you need anything, anything at all, I'll be there okay?"

Kari looked up at her and smiled, "Yeah, thanks mom."

After a while Kari's mom let go of her and stood up. As she made for the door, she realized something, "Oh Kari? You're friends are in the living room by the way. I think you should say hi." with that she left the room.

Kari smiled. And went out of her bedroom. When she came into the living room she saw nine anxious faces staring at her. Mimi jumped up and hugged her, "OH KARI! I've missed you!"

Yolei was next to greet her. She gave her a big squeeze, "You had me scared Kari!"

"Kari I'm glad you're fine," Cody told her

"Yeah," Ken agreed.

Izzy, Sora, and Joe all smiled in agreement.

Davis gave her a big grin, "Kari, I'm glad you're feeling better. You got my present right?" The big bear was sitting in the corner of the room.

"Yeah Davis, thanks," she tried to be sincere.

Finally Matt stood up and gave her a hug. "I'm happy your safe..." his voice drifted off.

Tai came from the kitchen with bottles of pop and bags of chips. They all celebrated to Kari's health, but hesitated to mention the blonde boy who was missing in their ranks.

"Hey, do you guys want to go to the digiworld?" Kari suddenly said. Everyone was a little startled.

"Oh... sure," Sora answered. The rest of them all said yes. Matt hesitated but said yes in the end.

The group entered the digital world all together. They were all greeted by their partners. Patamon flew around and realized his partner was not there. He flew over to Matt.

"Matt, where's TK?" he asked inoccently.

Everyone else froze. Matt was silent for a moment, then he looked Patamon directly in the eyes, "TK... he's gone..."

Patamon was in shock. "What do you mean gone?"

Kari spoke up, holding Gatomon in her arms, "Someone took him away."

**Sorry this seems like kinda slow chapter. The next one will have something interesting happen so stay tuned... Dont forget to give in your imput and comment =)**


	3. Flicker

**K so I totally figured out how this is going to end =) hahah but it will take a lot of writing on my part. And I'll try to post every day depending so yeah =) Anyway enjoy the next chapter**

Chapter 3 Flicker

Two months have passed. The police have called off the investigation but Matt still hoped. Praying that his little brother was safe. He remembered watching a news report the week before about a rotting corpse found in a shack near the park where TK disappeared. When he heard, he was anxious. Matt was afraid that the body was TK. It was indistinguishable due to the fact that the corpse was seriously charred. But days later he found out that the body belonged to some actress who went missing years ago.

Matt continued his search. He needed to know. His mother was constantly breaking down, and it pained him to see her like that. His father returned to his job... but it was evident he was still upset. Matt began to distance himself from his friends. They would check up on him every now and then but he always seemed to push them away. Soon, only Sora and Tai were left to keep an eye on him. Sora because she cared deeply for the man who she fell in love with.

Tai, because he was stubborn. He watched as his best friend tore himself apart. He also watched his little sister suffer through it.

That day Tai pushed Matt to go out and enjoy himself for once. It was going to be a guys weekend, Izzy was the only other guy free to hang out so he came along as well. They got their bags and headed to the woods to go camping in the fresh outdoors.

"Come on, this is going to be great," Tai told Matt as he made a the exit on the highway.

Matt sighed, "I guess so..."

Izzy was on his Laptop in the backseat. He was concentrating hard on it all the way through the car ride.

"Jeez Izzy! Get off the technology, we're gonna be heading to nature," Tai complained.

"Just a digisec, I just need to try this one thing.... Prodigious!"

"What? What is it?" Tai asked.

"I think I just figured out a way to find _him"_

The two other boy easily figured out who him was. Tai took a hard left and parked in a diner's lot.

"Where? How?" Matt exclaimed.

"I was soo stupid! I should have figured this out centuries ago." Izzy mumbled.

"What?" Matt was trembling. This may be the lead he needed

"Well, what I did was basically hardwired my laptop to search for his digivice's signal... Like usually it would have been a cinch but his D-3 and D-terminal were offline indefinitely. Either someone took out the batteries, broke them, or they were in a 'no sattelite' zone. Anyway, I just updated my programming and increased the frequency til I finally found it!"

"Screw the camping trip! Where is he?"

"Looks like its five miles east from here. On the outskirts of Odaiba."

"That close?" Matt balled his fist. He turned to Tai, "Let's go!"

"Don't need to tell me twice!" And with that they went off to follow the signal. Tai was a little upset that the camping trip was blown, but if it meant that they could find him, it was well worth it.

They reached the location. It was a rundown factory, which used to make car parts. The place was littered with broken scraps of metal and old machinery.

Matt's hopes dropped, "Seems like no one's been here in a while..."

"Yeah..." Tai said as he swatted away some cob web he had walked into.

Izzy was still scanning his laptop. "It's here I know it -" Crash! Izzy tripped on the broken cement flooring. He made sure his computer was still safe which unfortunately caused him to hit his shoulder hard. "OWWW -" He yelped.

Matt and Tai stopped looking and rushed to where their friend was.

"You alright?" Tai asked him.

"I think I dislocated my shoulder," Izzy cringed in pain. Matt sat him up as Tai popped it back into place. After playing soccer most of his life, Tai knew a thing or too about first aid.

Once back in place, Tai ran to his car to get a blanket for a makeshift sling Izzy could use. "Thanks," Izzy said as he adjusted his weight to stand up. He looked at his computer. A little dot continued to blink where they were supposed to be.

"I don't get it... the signal's coming from here..." Izzy thought it over.

Matt continued to search until after an hour he finally found what they were looking for. "The digivice!" He went to pick it up. Right beside it was the D-terminal which had drops of blood dried on it.

"I guess he or someone else must've abandoned it here..." Tai concluded

"Let's get out of here," Izzy suggested, "We can check out any information left of the devices. Maybe there'll be a clue there. Otherwise, there's no way of knowing what happened."

"Maybe there is another way," Tai said out of the blue.

"What do you mean?" Matt questioned.

"Look up there," He pointed to a big black globe. It was a security camera.

"Do you think it still works?" Izzy asked.

"Doesn't hurt to try." They went off to find the security office. It was cold and dusty but when Izzy flipped the switch the television screens turned on and they could see every inch of the factory. All night they went through the video footage from the past two months. They were exhausted but at one point Matt noticed a blur that appeared on all of the screens at the same time. They watched in slow motion as the blur came in approximately a week after TK's disappearance. It came in quickly and suddenly there was a glitch on all of the camera's and by then it had vanished in thin air. It couldn't have been a fly on the lens since all the camera's had caught this at the same time... glitching at the same exact moment.

"Strange..." Tai was breathless. They couldn't figure anything out, but it was getting close to midnight so they needed to leave. There was no point in going to the campsite anymore so they just went home. Tai dropped Izzy off at his place first. Then Matt at his apartment which he shared with Sora. Tai said so goodnight to him and drove back to his dorm.

Matt entered his complex and went upstairs when he realized he had left his backpack on the side of the road. He rushed down to get it. When he picked it up he felt something, his spine tingled. He looked up and saw a young man on the other side of the street standing underneath a lamp post. It couldn't have been... he swore the man was TK. He had blonde hair and blue eyes... but when he blinked the person was gone. Matt cursed under his breath and figured his mind was starting to play tricks on him. Possibly, he was going mad.

He sighed and returned to his place.

* * *

Izzy plugged the D-3 and D-terminal onto his home computer. Long ago he had made a custom jack for the digivices. He scanned through the encrypted data. There was nothing too different from them. Suddenly he gasped. There was one unopened message. The address was not readible but the message was clear as day. It was dated the same day the video in the factory occured.

_Goodbye_

* * *

Kari had been seeing his face everywhere. In her dreams, in her classroom in college, at home, when hanging out with friends. She thought she was going crazy. She didn't want to think about him anymore, but she couldn't help it. Her dreams always began happy but suddenly would change to the scene that night... when he was shot, when he... she couldn't think about that. Today after all, was her birthday...

Yolei and Mimi had planned a big party just for her. She was grateful, it was a way for her to keep busy. The party was held at the beach as the weather had just been perfect. Everyone was enjoying themselves, even Matt tried to have fun. After a while Kari laid out on a beach blanket to sunbathe. She shut her eyes and basked in the rays. Then all of a sudden the she was in the shadows. She opened her eyes and saw a person standing right in front of her, blocking out her sun. She looked at his face and saw TK. But in a flash he vanished. It was an illusion... Kari shook it off, she told herself that it was only another illusion like one she saw everyday and every night. She went to her bag to get some sunblock and noticed something on the side. It was TK's hat. She must have unconsciously packed it this morning.

"KARI! HURRY UP!" Yolei yelled to her friend. She had been calling Kari for a while now. They had brought out a cake that Mimi had specially made for her birthday and she wanted Kari to blow out the candles.

Kari went up to the picnic table and watched the flicker of the flames on the little candles. Everyone gave a badly tuned rendition of "Happy Birthday" then she blew out the candles. The alarm on her watch rang. 1:01 pm. She was officially nineteen years old.

"Happy Birthday Kar" Tai grinned as he took the first slice from under her eyes.

_Happy Birthday._ She looked around, she swore someone had said that, but no one else was behind her. Was it just a voice in her head?

**Oohhh what does _goodbye _mean? I wonder... lol anyway I'll try to post the next chapter soon. I'm just really sleepy right now =)**


	4. Cafe

**K so just to let you know, I'm using the japanese school system for this story. For one reason, they live in Japan so I thought it be right. Which makes TK's kidnapping somewhere in the end of March/beginning of April. Lol**

Chapter 4 Cafe

She found it odd that people were hanging up decorations in their homes. The past year was a blur to her that didn't realize it was already December. Sure the weather was cold and snow was falling but it barely registered in her mind how fast the seasons changed around her. Tai was home already, a week before Christmas, since he claimed his exams ended early. In five minutes her bedroom was cluttered with Tai's things.

"Tai, could you please not put your dirty laundry all over the floor," she sighed as she began picking up the clothes and tossing them into the basket.

"Sorry Kari," he belched, he was drinking a can of pop as he came in.

"Gross..." she giggled, she was happy her brother was home, even though he only lived an hour away.

"So what'cha doing tonight?" He asked her.

"Ummm... I have work until 6pm," Kari said absent-mindedly.

"At that supermarket?"

"No I quit that in September," She gave him an I-told-you-that-already look, "I'm actually working at this cafe near Sora's mom's place.

"Oh."

"What do you mean 'oh'?" Kari asked

Tai averted her eyes, "Oh... nothing..."

Kari decided to ignore her brother and looked at the time. "Oh no... I'll be late!" She shoved her brother out the door so she could change into her uniform and quickly ran out of the apartment in no time flat.

"Uhhh... bye he said dumbfounded still standing in front of the bedroom door.

* * *

"Welcome to Angel's Cafe," Kari greeted the customers as they entered. She was adorable in her uniform, like a little maid.

"Hey Kari!" a familiar voice called out to her. It was Davis as well as Ken, Yolei and Cody.

"Oh hey," she gave them a warm smile,

"Table for four!" Yolei said giving her friend the old peace sign.

"Right this way," She told them as she lead them to the table in the corner.

"You're soo adorable Kari," Davis complimented her.

She tinged pink as she passed them the menus. She left for a moment to attend to another customer as Yolei elbowed the goggle-head.

"Ouch what was that for!" he cried

"For hitting on her what else," Yolei said.

"I wasn't hitting on her jeez,"

"Could you two please stop fighting, its embarrassing," Cody pleaded.

"NO!" they said in unison and continued to bicker amongst each other.

Cody turned to Ken, "Can't you do anything to stop them. He is your best friend, and she's you girlfriend."

"I learned a long time ago to never go between their battles," he sighed rubbing his arm. He remembered the last time he was caught in between them.

Kari returned to take their orders just when Yolei and Davis stopped. She grinned, "So what would you like?"

"I'd like a grande mocha latte with whipped cream and caramel drizzle, a large slice of choclate cake, and for Davis to get a brain," Yolei told Kari.

"I don't think we have any brains in stock," she laughed.

"I'll just have a large coffee, double-double," Davis moaned, annoyed at the girls.

"Same," Ken ordered.

"I'll get some lemon tea," Cody told Kari as he passed her back the menu.

"Okay coming right up," She said leaving again. Kari returned a few minutes later with their orders and pulled up a chair.

"Shouldn't you be working?" Cody asked her.

"My manager said it was okay to take my break now," Kari explained as she dug into the fondant-au-chocolat she brought for herself.

"Mmmm... that looks good," Yolei was practically drooling.

"You want a bite?" Kari asked her friend. Immediately, Yolei grabbed her fork and took a big piece, the chocolate ganache inside oozed out.

"Delicious!" Yolei teared up a bit. The rest of the group laughed.

"It seems like a long time since we had some fun together," Ken commented after a while.

"What do you mean?" Yolei was confused, "We went to the winter festival together just last Saturday."

Ken didn't reply.

"KAMIYA! BREAKS OVER!" called a gruff man from behind the counter.

"Coming!" Kari replied back. She turned to her friends, "Thanks for coming guys!" She was sincere.

"Yeah anytime," Davis chirped.

The group paid their bill and walked out the door.

"Oh yeah Kari!" Cody realized they forgot something.

"Yeah?"

"Don't forget about tomorrow night!"

"What's tomorrow?"

"What you forgot?" Yolei cried.

"Huh?" Was Kari's intellegent answer.

"Just come to Izzy's," Ken told her, eyeing Kari's rather annoyed boss, "See you." And with that they left.

Kari returned to work, serving customers.

* * *

A few hours later, it was the end of Kari's shift and she went to her locker to grab the change of clothes she thankfully remembered. She spotted her coworker just coming in.

"You working tonight?" Kari asked as she passed by.

"Yup! Til midnight isn't that wonderful?" she said sarcastically, "I even had plans with my boyfriend tonight until Kimi called in sick."

"Oh that's too bad," Kari said empathetically.

"Yeah well," She changed the subject, "How bout you? It's Friday night, do you have a date or anything."

Her expression shifted slightly, "Oh no, I haven't dated in a while."

Her coworker laughed, "Yeah must be fun being single."

Kari looked down a bit, her eyes sad, "Yeah, I guess." Kari then went to the bathroom to change out of her uniform, stuffing it into her little backpack. When she changed she said a quick goodbye to her boss and walked to the exit where her face planted right in someones chest.

Embarrassed she bowed, "I'M SOOO SORRY!" She said to the man she had just slammed into.

"It's okay," His voice was emotionless, but familiar. Kari's eyes widened as she came up from her bow. The man ran his fingers through his short blonde hair as he looked at her.

"TK..." was all Kari could say.

"I'm sorry?" The man was confused.

Kari wrapped her arms around the man, who shifted uneasily, "It really is you isn't it TK? I'm not imagining you?"

The blonde released himself from her grip and looked straight into her eyes. "I think you're mistaken. I'm not this... TK... or whatever." His eyes spoke the truth.

Kari turned red and apologized again. "I'm sorry... it's just you look exactly like... him..." she choked on her words a bit.

"Hey now, don't cry," He tried to comfort her a bit, even though his voice was emotionless.

At that moment a raven haired girl entwined her arm around the man. "I'm sorry I'm late..." She saw Kari, and gave her a quizzical expression, "Who's she?"

"Just someone who bumped into me," The TK lookalike said, "Shall we get going?"

"Alrighty..." his girlfriend said as they walked into the cafe.

Kari ran off until she reached her apartment's street. She stopped and caught her breath. "That wasn't him... that wasn't him..." she muttered to herself, "No matter how much he looks like him, he's not him." First the first time in months she broke down crying.

**End of chapter 4. Sorry it's short again. But hopefully its starting to get good for you guys? Tell me what you think alright? =)**


	5. Gift

**I really want to see Iron Man 2... and Toy Story 3... and the Last Airbender hahahah**

Chapter 5 Gift

"Merry Christmas!" The Kamiyas greeted Izzy in unison.

Izzy was wearing a red and green hand-knitted holiday sweater with a Christmas tree on it, "Hey come on in," He said. Tai and Kari took off their boots and went to the living room, Tai couldn't help but make a joke of the sweater. The rest of the group was already there celebrating the festivities, minus Davis... but he's always late. Though Mimi returned to New York for school, she came to Odaiba to celebrate with her friends.

The party was a merry one, though they did get quite drunk, even Cody... Around midnight they all even decide to go to the digital world to party with their digimon friends. Let's just say never let Ogremon and Joe kick up some karaoke when they each had about 8 beers and a shot of vodka. By morning the only ones who weren't passed out in the morning were Gatomon and Patamon.

Gatomon sighed as she put a blanket around Kari. "That was an... interesting party," she said.

"If interesting you mean hilarious," Patamon giggled, "Remember when Tai and Davis started singing 'Don't Stop Believin'?"

"Uggghhh don't remind me, it made me what to stick my head in some kitty litter," They both laughed.

"Do you think its time?" Patamon asked suddenly.

"Time... hmmm I guess so," Gatomon replied, "I'll wake the others so we can get ready."  
"Alright... if any of them wake up then I'll distract them."

"Okay," Gatomon said, as she begun waking up the digimon, many of whom were still hungover.

"No... I don't want any pizza," Gomamon said dreamily as Gato shook him.

"Come on, I'm not giving you any pizza," the kitty sighed, "Hurry up now, it's almost time."

"SUPRISE!" All the digimon shouted loud enough to wake up all the digidestined.

"Huh...?" Davis was dumbfounded.

"Oh wow," Mimi gasped.

"What's going on?... Oh!" Yolei was speachless.

They all slowly came into amazement. In front of each digidestined were metal figurines of themselves and their digimon partners. Each figurine showed a different stage in their lives, like all the older kids had figurines of themselves when they first came there to defeat Devimon and Myotismon, as well as from the battles against Malomyotismon and Daemon. Ken even had a little Digimon Emperor figurine which made him a little sad and embarrassed. They had the in-training, rookie, champion, ultimate, and mega, and the armor digivolutions of the digimon as well.

"You like?" Gomamon asked Joe.

"Like? I love it," he responded admiring the little 12 year old Joe.

"Did I really look like that when I was a kid? Man I was such a tomboy," Sora said.

"You've always been a tomboy," Tai kid. Sora punched him in the arm. "Ouch."

"Wow, Gatomon you look soo adorable," Kari said smiling at the little Egyptian cat's figurine.

"This is really great," Matt commented as he admired the figurine of himself, back when he still played with 'The Lone Wolf'. He was even rocking a bass guitar with him singing and a mike stand in front.

"Awesome Veemon," Davis grinned like a little kid.

"The detail is very intricate," Izzy analyzed, "You even got some data written on the laptop."

"Thanks Armadillomon," Cody smiled, "This are wonderful." He looked at the little Kendo Cody.

"SOOOO CUTE!" Mimi squeeled.

"How did you guys ever do this?" Tai asked

"It wasn't easy," Agumon said, "That's for sure."

"We promised we couldn't reveal the secret." Hawkmon put a feather to his beak like a shh motion.

"Oh what are these," Mimi wondered, as there was an extra package next to her.

Gatomon realized in an instant, "Oh wait no! Don't o-"

It was too late, Mimi already looked inside the package, and immediately shut it. "Oh..." She tried to put up a charade, "This really isn't anything important." passing it to Palmon to hide away.

"I told you not to get that one," Gabumon said to Veemon

"Sorry, it was dark, I couldn't see..." Veemon tried to explain.

The rest of the digidestined were curious. "What is it?" Tai asked.

"Nothing," Agumon replied.

"Then I know its something," Tai said. He quickly grabbed the package from Palmon before she could do anything. It ripped and tiny figurines scattered the ground. Matt picked one up and his smile turned to a frown.

"We weren't supposed to give that to... not til..." Patamon began to tear up and flew away.

"I'll get him," Biyomon said anxiously and she flew off to catch up with the flying pig.

Matt held on to the figurine tightly, not saying a word. It was little TK back when he wore his big green cap. Kari took one as well, indiscreetly, the most recent one. She then put the rest of the figurines in the package and handed it back to Gatomon. "I think you should give these to Patamon." Gatomon nodded.

The buzz of the celebration ended then.

The digidestined all said their farewells, thanking their partners for the gifts again, promising to be back soon.

**I can't wait til the next chapter. Lol cause I'll finally start writing the good parts like the meat of it =) **


	6. Him

**Alrighty I hope this chapter will get the ball rolling (finally)**

Chapter 6 Him

It was December 26th. She leaned over the counter with her elbow on the table holding on to her head. In her other hand, she held on to the Little figurine of the eighteen year old TK. His smile made her feel warm, but at the same time made her sad.

"What's that?" a male voice asked her. He plucked the little statue from her hand and began examining it.

Annoyed she looked up and saw that TK lookalike. She was a bit mortified.

"Hmm..." he said, "This thing really looks a lot like me..."

Kari snatched it quickly back, "It's not you... it's...it's.."

"Oh you're that girl from before, the one who mistaked me for your friend... T--"

She turned scarlet, "I'm sorry about that..."

"It's no big deal," He thought for a second, "Wait... was that little toy this T... person you looking for."

"My friends made this... for him... His name was TK..."

The blonde stared at her, "_Was?_... oh..." He decided not to pursue it further. "Anyway, you work here?"

Kari nodded.

"I guess I'll see you a lot here then, I kinda like this place." She was even redder, "You're pretty cute. My name's Topi by the way."

"Topi? That's an odd name..." her voice came out as a squeak.

He laughed, "It's Finnish... i think it means hope...."

Kari's eyes widened for a moment, "Hope?"

"Yeah... I think it fits me well."

"Are you from Finland then?"

"I'm not quite sure actually, I'm told I was actually from Japan though." He changed the subject quickly, "What's your name by the way?"

"Kari..."

"Kari that's a really cute name," He smiled. He had a lot more expressions from the first time she met him. The smile was the same as TK's smile.

"It's uhhh sh,ort for Hikari..."

"Light?" He commented, "Yep, that definitely suits you." At that moment a girl with short blonde hair entered the cafe.

"TOPI! There you are!" She huffed, she looked like she was only 15.

"Is that your girlfriend? What about that other girl I saw you with?"

He shook his head, "That girl... was just a one night stand. And she's... just a date for today. Nothing serious." He said this like it was nothing at all, rather cold and emotionless, in fact. He began walking towards the girl, but he turned around to face Kari for a second, "Oh, I'll be seeing you around, Kari. See you." He waved and left with the blonde girl wrapped around his waist.

"What a player," Her coworked said as she passed by, "Kari, you'd better be careful with those types."

"Uh huh," Kari nodded.

"Mhmmm... Now help me out please you just been standing there for like 15 minutes."

"Yes, coming," She said, picking up her notepad.

* * *

"It's weird, Yolei," Kari was conversing with her friend at her place, "He looked exactly like TK, down to the smile... but it wasn't him."

"I've got to meet this guy!" Yolei told her, "I've got to see this for myself."

"Well he did say, he'll come to the cafe alot... you know what the strange thing is?"

"What?"

"His name was Topi... he told me that meant 'hope' in Finnish."

"Hope... woah now that's got to be a sign." Yolei was getting excited, "Maybe it's like TK's ghost or something."

Kari shook her head, "He was as solid as a rock."

"TK with amnesia?"

Kari shrugged, "I can't think of him as TK though... it's weird. He looks like TK and everything, but I don't _feel_ TK in him. He's another person and that's that." Kari's gaze dropped to the floor.

Yolei put her arm around her friend. "I'm sure... we'll find him someday. Besides I don't think he'd want you to be sad all the time. He'd want you to be happy and smile. Be the light that brightens everyone's day."

The brunette nodded solemnly. "I wonder how Patamon has been coping..."

"Well Hawkmon tells me that Patamon keeps saying he's alive. He says he can feel it in his heart. So he's trying his hardest to find him."

"And what about Matt and his parents..."

"Sora says their getting by day to day and all. Matt puts up a front in front of us, you know, after the first few months. And his mom and dad are keeping busy. Why hasn't Tai told you all of this or Gatomon?"

"They probably don't want to worry me anymore."

After a while they heard bustling by the door. Mrs. Kamiya comes in with groceries in one hand and a newspaper in the other. Kari, immediately goes to help her mom with the groceries, as she continued to read the paper.

"_tsk tsk. _Oh dear, what a shame..." Her mother comments.

"What? What's happening?" Yolei piped in.

"Well it seems that there's been quite a few missing people. They're getting reports that most go missing near that forest at the outskirts of the city..."

"You mean the 'haunted' one?" Yolei was intrigued.

"Yes."

"Maybe the ghosts are getting them." Yolei began making a ghost face.

Kari ignored her, "How many have been missing?"

"Well, it started at the beginning of this month, there were about 10 missing." Her mother informed her.

"I hope they'll find them soon," Kari sighed.

* * *

Matt was sweating hard. His opponent exhausted, the coach called for them to end it. The blonde grabbed his water bottle and spit out his mouth guard so he could guzzle down the liquids.

"Now Matt good job out there today," his coach told him patting him on the back, "Hit the showers though, you reek like roadkill."

"Yes coach," He said, taking off his gloves This past year, Matt had taken up boxing, partly to release his anger, and partly so he can beat up the son-of-a-bitch who took his little brother. Sora was always worried about him getting hurt, but at least he wasn't picking fights on the street.

He went to the locker room to change out of his workout clothes and into a towel. As he was putting his duffel bag back, something slipped out of the front pocket. It was the little TK figurine. Matt sighed and brought it along with him to the bath house where he took a nice long soak. The bath definitely relieved him of his stress.

"If only you could talk," Matt said to the little toy TK. He stared at the thing for a while as if trying to will it to talk. He then gave up, "I look so stupid... talking to a piece of metal."

"Don't say that. That boys feelings will get hurt," A voice behind him said. Matt recognized the voice in an instant. He turned and saw a blonde man getting into the bath as well.

"What the – TK?" Matt was astounded.

"Ahh... so you knew him too..." The man smiled, "Alas no, I'm not TK... though I heard he looks a lot like me."

Matt's heart fell down to Earth. He sighed, "Oh sorry. You just look and sound exactly like him..."

"Sorry I let you down... I felt bad when Kari found out I wasn't TK either..."

"You know Kari?"

"She's the waitress at Angel's?"

Matt nodded.

"Then I guess I do know her... And you are?"

"I'm Matt."

"Nice to meet you. My name's Topi."

"Nice to meet you too." Though Matt could have been better without someone who looked exactly like TK sitting right beside him and not being TK at all. They sat in silence for a while when Matt decided he should go. He stood up and grabbed his towel.

"I hope you find TK." Topi commented as he left.

That was the strangest thing in the world for Matt. It was plain bizarre. He got changed and left the place to head over to Sora's. They had planned a date for that night. When he reached her apartment, he kissed her as they went. That night, though he tried to be happy for her, Matt's mind was filled with TK.

**I'm tired once again... sigh... Anyways.... two chapters in one night luckyy you guys =) Next chapter up soon I promise!**


	7. Forest

**So last night, there was a power outage at like midnight so I couldn't go on my laptop (no power...no internet... unfortunately). And then this morning the cable was dead, the phone lines were dead and the internet still wasn't up =( It sucked but eventually all of it returned to normal... like at around 5pm ... sigh....Mann I've got start writing a new chapter for my other fanfic... anyway...**

Chapter 7 The Forest

It was a beautiful Valentine's day. The birds were chirping and the air was filled with love. Love however pure and simple always left a mark on the hearts of those involved with it. At Angel's Cafe love birds sat across from each other in the little cafe tables. The girls blushed nervously as the gave their crushes the chocolates they made by hand. Kari and her coworkers worked feverously as customers lined up to get in.

"Here you are," Kari passed a pair of filled coffee mugs to a couple in the last table to the left.

"Miss!" Called a woman in the next table.

"Yes, coming!" she called in a pleasant manner.

Day turned into night, when it seemed as though the customers would never end, they slowly died down. When there were only a couple left, Kari took a break.

"Here you go," Her boss passed her a cup of coffee.

"Thanks," she said, having a sip. It was delicious, Angel's Cafe was famous for their coffee. "I really needed that." She smiled.

Her boss leaned over, "So, did you give anyone some chocolate today?"

Kari was a little startled, "Well, I did give some to my brother and my friends..."

"You know what I mean..." Her boss gave her a little wink.

Kari turned a little pink, "...no..."

"Awww... no one that catches your eye?"

"No..." Kari sighed, "I haven't thought about a boy that way since my..." Her mind flashed back to TK

Her boss realized she pushed the subject a bit. "Anyway..." he pulled something from under the cash register. It was a bag of milk chocolate pieces, "I know it's supposed to be girls giving guys the presents. My wife always makes a lot to give to the workers. "

"Thank you," She accepted the chocolate gratefully.

The door opened. "You still opened?" called a voice from the entry.

"Yes," Kari turned around and saw a familiar person with blonde hair, "Oh, hi Topi."

"Hey," he took a seat by the nearest table. "Can I get a cup of coffee, black."

She took the order and handed him a fresh brewed cup. "I thought tonight of all nights, you would be out with a girl who has fallen for your charm." She sat down on the other chair. Her boss at this point was kind enough to let her hang with her friends for a little bit.

"Oh, there were wayy too many girls wanting me tonight, I felt bad if I took one out and not the other." He gave her the smile she always liked. "Besides, I'd rather hang out with you."

"You should have come earlier then, you know that the shop's closing in ten minutes."

"You know what I mean," He gave her a wink.

"Topi, I've told you already I can't..."

"Can't? Or won't?"

She sighed, "can't... won't... I don't know... both..."

"Hey hey now..." he lifted up her chin, "I won't force you." He placed some change on the table and sighed, "I guess for tonight I will be going home." He stood and headed out, "Well I'll be seeing you Kari."

"What a shame... that boy must really like you," her boss said absent-mindedly.

"I only wish he didn't," Kari sighed.

* * *

"Yo man what's been bothering you?" Tai asked his best friend who was scanning through some headlines on his laptop.

Matt looked up, "Well, it's these missing persons reports... there have been a steady amount of people disappearing lately around not only Odaiba, but the rest of Tokyo as well. And there have also been a lot of hikers who have gotten lost in the forest, and never returned."

"I've actually noticed that lately too," Izzy said. The boys were all laying in the couches at Matt's apartment, while Sora went shopping with Kari and Yolei.

"Pass the chips," Davis said, ignoring their talks and focusing on Matt's newest combat video game.

"There like two feet away from you," Cody groaned as he killed one of the aliens, "Besides if you start eating, they'll kill you."

"ARGGHHH DAMN YOU IMDABOMB01 FROM FREAKING AMERICA" Davis shouted at the screen as his character died, causing his entire group to lose.

"See what I told you..." Cody sighed, passing the controller over to Ken. He turned his attention to what the older guys were conversing about.

"Do you mean that haunted forest by the highway?" Cody asked them after being caught up.

"Yeah..." Matt answered.

"Well I believe, when they say haunted, you should probably leave it alone," Joe informed them.

"Well, come on are you really afraid of some ghooossts?" Tai said in a rather creepy voice from behind Joe which made the latter jump from his seat.

"I'd say this will need some thorough investigating." Izzy told them.

"So you're in with the whole hunting by the forest thing?" Matt said, determined.

Davis heard what they said, "Oooh! We're doing some ghost hunting eh? Count me in."

Ken had died in the game so he joined in as well. "Sounds interesting, I'd like to do it too."

"Yeah, besides I don't really believe in those kind of ghosts."

"Well that's six against one!" Tai smirked, "Care to reconsider?"

"How about I be command central? You guys can call me if you need any help." They all agreed and piled into Davis' family minivan which he had borrowed for that day.

"Mann, this is awesome!" Davis said as they parked the van at an abandoned road. Joe stayed in the van and was handed one walkie-talkie, The other one, Ken was opted to carry around. It was late afternoon, but there was an ominous chill in the air. They headed deeper and deeper into the forest, and began hearing various animal noises which frankly freaked half of them out.

"Maybe... we should turn back," Cody suggested.

"Why? You scared?" Davis teased. Tai accidentally stepped on a twig which made a loud noise, resulting in Davis jumping. The guys snickered.

"I think maybe you're the one that's afraid..." Tai teased.

Then they all heard rustling and froze in place.

"Who's there?" called a voice. They all turned around and met a blonde.

"Oh," the blonde recognized Matt, "You guys shouldn't be out here."

"Who're you?" Cody was a bit startled and thought he saw TK.

"Topi... Anyway, you guys should probably get out of here while you can... it's getting dark and there have been quite a few people disappearing here. It's not safe."

"At least we're in a group," Davis began to defend them, "What about you? You're all alone, you're an easy target."

"I'm not alone, my brothers and sisters are around..." He fidgeted a bit and pushed them in the direction they came from. "Now get going. It really isn't safe, and I won't be responsible for you lot getting hurt."

Matt frowned, "Alright, alright we get it..." He motioned the others to follow him and they did.

When they got back in the van they headed back into town.

"Why'd you guys leave?" Joe asked them.

"Some guy forced us to..." Davis mumbled.

"Speaking of which..." He turned to Matt, "He looked exactly like _him_ didn't he?"

"I noticed that too, but I didn't want to say anything..." Ken was reserved.

"Yeah, like he could be _his _twin," Cody commented.

Matt sighed, "Yeah... I've met him a couple of times already, at the gym. But he _isn't_ TK."

"How sure are you?" Izzy asked him.

"Very... he acts and speaks nothing like TK he's definitely different." It sounded as though Matt was trying to convince himself more than trying to convince the rest of the guys.

* * *

"Oh hey Topi," Kari greeted him as he entered.

"Hey," He went to his usual table, "I'll just have some apple pie today.

"Alright," Kari said and brought him some pie. There were no other customers at the shop, so Kari sat down and relaxed a bit. "So what's up?"

"Nothing much..." Topi replied as he took a big bite, "Except... well do you know Matt Ishida?"

"Matt? Yeah, he's a good friend of mine. Why?" Kari was surprised to hear his name coming from Topi's mouth.

"Well the other day, I met him and a bunch of his friend in the forest... you know the 'haunted' one..."

"Oh yeah... wait what were they doing there... and you too?"

"I think they were looking for something, or maybe a cheap thrill. Bunch of people like poking around in the forest, to see if they can actually find ghosts or something..." He ignored the latter of her question, "The point is, I told them to turn back that it wasn't safe there."

Kari gasped a little.

"Yeah well, Kari I need you to promise me something..."

"Yeah?"

"Whatever you do don't go in the forest."

"Bu-"

"Please," His eyes begged her, "I don't want you -" he couldn't finish.

"Okay..." Kari wasn't planning on going to the forest anyway.

Topi smiled, "Thanks."

**What's so bad about the big bad forest? I dunno guess you'll have to find out later... =) Please review**


	8. Secrets

**I'm soooo late in giving you guys a new chapter... sorrryyyyy. I really wanted to finish the chapter from my other fic first hahaha. Side note... do you ever read books that you like when you first start it but after a while you start to hate it? But then at that point its too late cause you wanna see it through til the very end? Hahaha That's what I feel when I read sometimes especially right now cause I'm reading this series House of Night. At first I liked it but then I started to get majorly pissed off at the main character... and even most of her friends sigh.. but I'm like more than halfway done so I keep buying the books and reading it... I'm halfway done the latest book. But enough of my banter, time to read on =)**

Chapter 8 Secrets

Matt paced around his living room for a good hour as Sora watched him drinking a cup of tea.

"Hon, I know you're annoyed, upset, anxious whatever about the whole Topi thing but I think you should sit down or you'll wear a whole through the floor." Sora told the blonde. He sighed and plopped himself on the couch next to his girlfriend.

"I don't know what to do about that guy... He looks exactly like TK for one thing. And another he always seems to have something behind his back, like a dark secret."

"I think you're just over-thinking everything," Sora told him, "He's a sweet guy, but you barely know him, of course he'll have secrets. Maybe you're just letting you're personal emotions get the best of you."

Matt sighed as he let Sora rest her head on his shoulder, "It's not about my emotions anymore... Something _is_ up... This time, I know I'm right."

* * *

"Tai, today's my day off... Why on earth are you taking me to the cafe I work at?" Kari whined as he led her through the door.

"Well I thought it would be nice to hang out with my little sis." He told her as he sat down.

"And you know I get a big discount too... huh?" Kari said, her eyebrow raised.

"You caught me," He said grinning.

"Mhmm...," Kari said but she couldn't help but giggle. They took their orders and began talking.

"Soooo," Tai began, "Anything new with you?"

"Nope, not much," She said as she stirred her coffee. "What about you. I heard you and the guys went exploring in the forest a couple of days ago."

"Oh yeah that... we just wanted to investigate all those missing persons... And we heard that the forest's where its at."

"But that's kind of dangerous isn't it."

"Kari, we've been through loads more than some ghost stories," Tai said flat out.

"Bu-"

"We're the digidestined, we fought against monsters, we came back unscathed. We were on life and death missions everyday of our lives, and that was when were little kids."

Kari paused and sat back, "I guess your right... I was being silly, I mean even though Topi warned me about..."

Tai's eyes popped. "Topi? You mean that blonde dude that looks like TK?"

"Yeah"

Tai mind raged a little, "How the hell do you know him?"

"I first met him here. He's a friend..."

"Why didn't you tell me about him!"

"Do I have to tell you everything about my life?"

A waitress taps Kari's shoulder, "Umm Kari, could you take your fight outside, you're kinda loud." Kari apologized paying the bill immediately and stormed out of the cafe with her brother tailing after her. He finally managed to catch up to her as she bumped into a man.

"Sorry," She said bowing down, when she looked up she jumped a bit.

"Haha, isn't this the second time you did that?" chuckled the blonde. Kari got a closer look at him and noticed a bruise on his left cheek.

"What happened?" She gasped.

"Ummm... oh this? Nothing really, I just got into a little fight with my brother... that's all..."

Tai noticed who Kari was talking. "YOU!" He shouted aloud.

Topi was confused, "Me?"

"Yeah you! What the hell do you think your doing with my sister," Tai demanded

"Tai stop it," Kari protested but her brother didn't relent.

"Hold on a second? You're Kari's big brother? Nice to meet you. I'm Topi," he introduced himself.

Tai slapped the hand away, "I don't know what you're thinking but don't even think of touching my sister."

"TAI!"

Tai and Kari began to argue back and forth with one another. Topi stood there for a while taking in the fierce battle unfolding between them until he decided to finally speak up. "Ahemm..." Tai and Kari turned there attentions towards the blonde. "Ummm... Tai is it? I wouldn't ever think about harming Kari in any way..."

Tai settled himself. His face was serious, "But you already are. I bet you know about TK don't you?" Topi nodded. "Well then if Kari told you everything about him, then why do you still keep meeting her, huh?"

"What do you mean?" Topi asked.

"Tai, don't!" Kari protested. Tai ignored her.

"'What do you mean?' What the fuck else? TK was one of the most important people in her life. He probably cared for my sister as much as I do. He was kind and brave and caring. But he's gone now because he went down protecting Kari. Kari watched him disappear right before her eyes! You know how many nights she would cry herself to sleep? How many times she had blamed herself for what had happened? How she'd try her best to put up a brave face in front of our family? Our friends? Me? I watched her heart break, unable to stop it from happening. After a while, she began to heal. She was learning to live again day by day.

"And then you show up! You and your fucking face had to show up and mess her life again. Your face which looks exactly like that boy's. You caused her to gain hope which crashed in a second. Your face will always be a constant reminder for her, and I bet you're using that pretty face of yours to try and manipulate her. So that she'll fall for you. But the thing is, You are not TK! Whatever you want, don't even try to get it. I can see through your facade buddy. Even though I don't know all of your secrets, I bet none of them will ever help Kari, will it?"

Kari slapped her brother in the face which finally caused him to stop. "Topi, I'm sorry, my brother... he didn't mean that..."

Topi's eyes couldn't face her's. "No... Kari... He's right..."

Kari looked up at him, and couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"I don't think I should hang out with you anymore... I'll probably just continue to hurt you," He finally caught her eyes and smiled, "I wouldn't want that. You're too good for me, Kari Kamiya. I'm sorry I'm not TK." With that he turned around and walked off.

"Topi..." Kari was in shock, "no... don't... Topi?... TOPI!" The boy named Topi faded in the wind.

**I'm sorry this chapter was short, I was planning on making it a lot longer than this but I think dramatic wise its best to cut it at this scene. Hahah but the next chapter will definitely have the climax. Chapter 9 – Revelations will soon be out (faster than the time it took to publish this one! I swear!) Anyway what do you think? Review please =)**


	9. Revelations

**What have I got to say... well not much except this is the climax... lol I'm a little excited.**

Chapter 9 – Revelations

Kari was furious with her brother. Not only did he embarrass her in front of so many people. He also pushed Topi away. She had locked herself in her room but it still wasn't enough. She had to calm down so she decided to escape to the digital world for a bit.

There she was happily greeted by the little Egyptian kitty who was oh so familiar to her. The cat jumped into her arms and purred happily. Not far behind was the orange flying piggy who landed on her head. "Hi Gatomon, Hello Patamon," Kari said warmly, letting her anger melt away. She played with them for a while reliving her sweet childhood memories. Getting tired, she sat under a large tree and took a nap with Gato on her lap and Pata right beside her.

Kari was first to wake from the nap and stared down at her companions. It was so peaceful, they were happy. She didn't realize she had begun crying until drops began to fall on the back of her hand. She didn't understand why her tears flowed freely but she couldn't stop it. Gatomon awoke as tears fell from her partner's face onto her head.

"Kari don't cry," Gatomon attempted to comfort her.

"I don't know why this is happening," Kari sniffled as she wiped away some of the tears, telling herself to stop crying.

"It's okay," The kitty purred, "You don't always have to be brave. You can show your soft side too sometimes. I'll be here to protect you when you need me."

_Protect_. The reason she was crying, she realized it now. Her body remembered that day. Those happy moments before her world tore apart. Where she sat in a tree just like this one and took a photo of the boy sleeping on her lap. His adorable face resting peacefully. She remembered further back, when they were younger, and he had promised to protect her with all of his heart. He always protected her but because of that, he was gone.

She finally understood that her brother... in his way... was only trying to protect her. He didn't want her to get hurt anymore. Tai thought that Topi, even if Topi really wasn't trying, was only causing Kari's heart to stay hurt, because the longing for TK manifested in that guy.

Kari wanted to apologize to Tai so she waved farewell to the two digimon and headed home. Tai was waiting for her lying down on his old bed flipping through a photo album. He sighed as he finished looking through it. As he sat up he finally noticed Kari and hit his head hard on her bed as he jumped a little from surprise. He went off the bed and stood up walking to his little sister, his face looked sad. "Listen, Kari... I just wanted to say I'm sorr-" Kari didn't let him finish as she wrapped her arms around him.

"No Tai," She looked up at her brother, "I'm the one who should be sorry. I'm sorry, it's all might fault. Everything is my fault. TK, Topi, Matt, You, Everyone's sad because of me. And you're always here protecting me."

"You may not be a little kid anymore," Tai said as he returned her emnbrace, "But you're my little sis and I'll always be here for you. So please don't always put all of the blame on yourself. Share your pain with me... with our friends cause we'll be there for you. It wasn't your fault any of this happened. Really... it wasn't."

_

* * *

_

Two Weeks Later

"Kari!" Tai called out to her from outside. He was waiting in his car impatiently for his little sister to get a move on. Today was the day the entire group was to go camping together. They were supposed to leave first thing in the morning but one thing led to another (One of those things was Mimi's flight getting delayed until about noon). It was now about 2 in the afternoon, and Kari only managed to finish packing. Tai sighed to himself. _This is why guys should just stick to camping with other guys. _

After 10 more minutes, Kari finally loaded her things onto Tai's trunk and hopped onto the passenger side seat. They stopped by to pick up Davis, Cody, and Izzy as well and finally met up with the rest of the group at Matt and Sora's. Once everyone was settled they headed off on the way to the campgrounds. Matt was leading the way but his car suddenly began to act up so he took a side road where it finally broke down. The other two cars had to stop as well to see what the problem was.

"Damn the engine's a bust," Matt was annoyed.

Yolei looked around her and had an idea, "You know since it's getting late why don't we just set up camp here?"

"Because it's not a campsite dufus," Davis told her which errupted into their usual bickering.

"You know what? Since we're in a forest anyway why not?" Tai said.

"I guess so, maybe a little rest will do my car some good anyways," Matt sighed. The guys began unloading the stuff and started setting up camp. Izzy and Joe began complaining about how much stuff Mimi had brought with her, exclaiming that there was no need for an electric hair dryer when you go camping.

Once the camp was set up, the girls prepared their food on the fire. Kari, Matt, and Tai decided to explore a little before the sun set on them and they headed off in a random direction.

"You know what... this place seems familiar," Cody observed as he was pitching up his tent.

"Yeah... have we been here before?" Davis wondered.

"I dunno, I'm pretty sure I haven't..." Mimi exclaimed.

"Well I doubt you've been camping before. And besides you aren't in Japan that much to go camping anyways," Sora pointed out, "But I do know I've never been here before."

"Crap," Ken's face was pale, "I know exactly where we are..."

"Where?" Yolei asked him.

Joe and Izzy's faces turned pale as well. In unison the three told them the location, "We're in the haunted forest."

"It's getting late should we be getting back now?" Kari asked her brother. They've been walking around for a good hour, not really finding anything interesting.

"Yeah I suppose so..." Tai said.

"Umm... which way is it back to camp?" Matt queried.

"Oh.. yeah that... umm... I thought you were keeping track of that Kari?" Tai said

"You were the one leading us Tai," Kari pointed out.

Matt took out his phone but cursed, "There's no reception at all here..."

Kari took out her d-tector, "I'm getting no signal on my d-tector either..."

"Oh look there's a couple over there maybe we should ask them where the way back is," Tai pointed to a couple who were hiking.

"Dear, the compass isn't working..." The female hiker told her mate.

"My GPS isn't either," The man explained.

"Maybe we shouldn't have gone here, I knew it wasn't safe."

"Are you saying you're scared of a few ghost stories, Kimi?"

"No, but what about all those hikers who got lost here this past year and never came back."

"They were all weak. Don't worry dear, I'm strong."

Isn't of talking to them, the trio began to follow the couple, a bit shocked at the realization that this was the haunted forest they had gone to a while back. The sun had already set but they all wandered around aimlessly. The couple finally found refuge in a cave and decided to stay there. After a minute Tai, Kari, and Matt entered the cave as well, but as soon as that happened, the entrance way closed behind them, as if by magic.

Tai's eyes widened, "Shit what have we gotten ourselves into," he whispered to the others. Matt told him to shut up as they saw a light coming further into the tunnel there was a large room hidden within. But it wasn't an ordinary room. It was like a throne room with ten thrones lined up in a semicircle facing the entry way as well as the large open space. They saw the couple had been stripped of their backpacks and jackets and were tied up. Kari wanted to cry out to them but Tai prevented her from doing so. They instead hid in the shadows to observe, thinking what was best was to not get caught by whatever had captured those two.

Suddenly ten cloaked figures emerged from another entryway to the right of the thrones. Each took their respective chair and sat once the short one in the centre gave them the signal to. The leader remained standing and faced the couple. It raised it's hands and slowly removed it's hood. The figure turned out to be a young girl, who was very enchanting. She looked no older than thirteen years of age but she presented herself regally.

"State your names and what business you have entering our domain," She demanded from the couple. Her voice was powerful and commanding.

"We're... Kai and Kimi Yoshida. We were just hiking... when we got lost and ended here. We didn't mean to trespass or anything..." the man called Kai stuttered throughout... he was very fearful of his captors.

The hooded figure in the first seat (A/N: I'm just gonna number the seats from 1-10 from the right) rested his head on his hand, elbow on the arm of the throne, "You there girl," his voice was very cold, but you can hear boredom, "Why do you let this man speak for you? Have you nothing to say?"

"I... can speak," Her voice was very quiet.

"ahh, but you fear us don't you," Said a rather wicked voice from the cloaked man in seat 7.

"Why do you fear us?" a kind gentle voice asked her. She was the one seated in seat 4, beside the leader.

"...because I don't know what you'll do to us." Kimi answered honestly.

"She's got a little spunk in her don't you think, Sister?" The female in seat 2 spoke to the leader.

"Ah yes," the little girl agreed, "However she does so out of fear and nothing more.

"And of that man?" The male seat 8 asked.

"He looks like he's gonna shit his pants," answered a rather blunt man from seat 10, He sounded like he was only 10 years old.

"Brother, you shouldn't speak that way, it's unbecoming for someone as old as you," said a rather mothering voice beside him in seat 9.

"Fuck that, I'll say what I want to say, and I can tell, in life he acts like a pompous, muoy-macho jackass, but now he's scared shitless," retorted the boy and he hit the arm of his chair, which broke

The man in seat 3 snickered, he was seated rather relaxed compared to the others.

"Now look what you've done," Sighed 9, "Sister is now going to have to replace your chair."

"Enough of this bantering," The girl in the center snapped, "Shall we simply move on to the verdict?" Her attention was focused on the silent hooded figure in seat 6. The figure nodded in agreement. The girl then faced the couple. "It is unfortunate that you have entered our domain, however the rules of the Fallen shall remain intact. There are only two choices that will befall onto you. One may lead to your life being spared, _may _being the operative word. The other will lead to your immediate demise. It is the decision of we the Fallen to decide that fate upon you." The couple were becoming even more frightened. She turned to her left and right, "Brothers, Sisters decide on their fate now." In that moment everyone of the cloaked figures raised their right arm at 90 degrees. Their thumbs were all pointed sideways. Then slowly one by one they dropped their thumbs to a thumbs down.

"Yeah, this was easy, I'm fucking starving," the boy at the end commented.

"Yawn... I was more bored with them than hungry," yawned 1.

"Brother, at least have some sympathy for those two," 4 told him.

"I doubt you have any real sympathy for them,"scoffed 8, "You are worse than our brother there and you know it."

"Can we get a move on, it's already rather late," 3 was getting impatient, but his voice was very alluring.

The girl in the middle snapped her fingers and quieted down the group. "Brother may you please escort these unfortunate souls away?" She asked 7.

"My pleasure," he made the sound of licking lips. He went down and pushed the two away. Tai, Matt and Kari knew that those two were not coming back alive. Kari was upset. Tai and Matt were both pissed.

"Shall we go now?" 2 asked for permission.

The leader's smile turned into a frown, "I'm afraid we cannot."

"Oh little darlings, we know you are there, please come forward. We wont (always) bite you," 1 told them in a drone voice.

Before they could make a move however, they saw that seat 6 was empty and they all slowly turned around to find the 6 right behind them. In a flash they somehow were all tied up in the middle of the large chamber.

"Little spies," 8 spat. 3 straightened himself out.

"Sister, sister shall we fucking kill them?" 10 asked.

"Nay, not yet." The girl said her eyes glared heavily at Kari, "You darling, what is your name?"

Kari cleared her throat, no matter how scared she was she became determined to not show fear in front of these monsters. She looked directly at the girl, "My name is Kari Kamiya."

The leader raised her eyebrow, "Kari Kamiya, eh?" She then turned to Tai, "And you?"

His body became filled with courage, "Tai, Tai Kamiya."

Then she turned to the last. "And your name boy?"

He did not like being called boy, especially by someone who was obviously younger them him. "Matt...Ishida."

"He's rather cute," giggled 4.

"Really? I perfer the two siblings," cooed 9.

"How do you know their siblings?" 2 queried.

"They have similar characteristics, as well as the obvious fact that they have the same last name." 1 explained for 9.

"Well they could be married like the last couple," 8 suggested.

"And how did you know they had fucking tied the knot?" 10 snorted.

"Well let's see, one was of obvious full Japanese origin, and the other was of European origin..." 8 retorted.

"Enough, enough, this is rather drole, shall we decide upon their fates, so we can get to supper?" 1 sighed.

The leader raised her hand 90 degrees and made a stop signal, "No, I believe they should join us for dinner before deciding upon their fates." There was groans amongst the group but they didn't object. They all stood from their respective seats and left through the door they entered. The one in seat six had appeared before them and escorted them to the same doorway. It led to a large dining hall with a long table that could have very well seated twenty. Tai, Kari and Matt were forced to sit at one end of the table, while the cloaked figures sat at the other end with the girl seated at the head of the table.

"Brother, release them from their bonds, it is time to eat. Besides they would be very unwise to attempt to escape." She smiled to them as the ropes binding their hands were cut. The boys had sour expressions on their faces. In a flash, there was fruits, bread and cheese at their side of the table while the others had that as well as some cooked meat. The digidestined's glasses were filled with a clear wine while the cloaked figures had a dark red drink in theirs. They didn't touch their food, a little afraid. No one actually touched their plates. The cloaked figures seemed to be waiting for their leader's permission. The girl smiled, "Come now, don't be shy Tai, Matt, Kari, that food is just for you it would be a waste not to eat it."

Afraid of the possible worse consequences of not eating the meal, they took some of each item and slowly began to eat.

"How appropriate." She said as she sipped some of her red wine. She turned and noticed her brothers and sisters were not eating yet, "Oh I apologize. You may all begin." And they all began to eat like famished wolves yet were still keeping to proper etticate using their knives and forks properly thought it was at lightning pace.

The girl put some meat on her own plate and slowly ate. As she ate, she spoke to the trio, "So dear ones, do you know who we are?" There was no reply, "Since you are already here, I shall tell you. My brothers and sisters and I were once human just like you. But since that time, we have rejected death and have become immortal. We call ourselves the Fallen."

"Immortal... like you can't die?" Tai asked her cautiously.

"You are correct, Tai Kamiya."

"What did you do to that couple?" Kari asked her boldly.

"Those two?" The girl asked, "That is simple, they are right here." She pointed towards the cloaked figure's meal. The three immediately lost their appetite. "Do not worry, we did not allow you to feed upon them, your meal is what it is."

"You're cannibals?" Matt was disgusted.

"Though we were all once human, we are of a different species now so technically we are not cannibals." The girl was blunt.

"But why? Why eat humans?" Kari demanded.

"It is our way of life, it is how we sustain our vitality to live immortally," She explained, "It is like how you drink water to live or eat cows and pigs."

"So were you the one behind those missing persons?" Matt's fist tightened.

"Most likely yes," explained 8, "Tokyo has the largest city population in the world and thus it is an obvious choice to reside here sometimes to take prey."  
"Though we really shouldn't stay in one place for more than a year or two," inserted 4.

"Why...why?" Kari could only say that.

"I myself have lived a millenia feeding of humans, why should I stop now just because you, Kari Kamiya, tell me to? Do I stop you from eating your eggs because I thought that it was disgusting that you eat unborn baby chicks?"

"Then were you... were you the one who took him away from me?" Kari asked

"And who may I ask are you searching for?" she was amused by the brunette's behaviour, "Out of respect I know the name of every person I have ever had the chance of meeting, so tell me?

"TK Takaishi, Matt's baby brother," she saw Matt tensing up even more, "my best friend, the one I... loved."

Everyone in the room burst out laughing.

"My dear child, I thought you were the one," The girl said, "Nay, we did not eat TK Takaishi."

"But you know who he is don't you?" Matt was furious. A thousand different things flashed before his mind of what could have happened to his little brother.

"Aye," The leader smiled wickedly, "Brother, I think it's time to introduce yourself?"

The one who had been sitting in the third seat sighed. He turned to face the three digidestined. He removed his hood so that everyone saw his face clearly. "I'm sorry to have you find out about all of this. I shall introduce myself formally. My name is Topi San. In my _past_ life, I was known as the digidestined of Hope. Birth name: Takeru 'TK' Takaishi."

**O_O Review please Tell me what you thought of this chapter? Next Chapter, I will begin to explain what the hell happened from TK's point of view of the past year.**


	10. Reborn

**Recently I received a note that Topi is not the literal translation for hope in finnish. I apologize to everyone. In finnish, hope = tovio. I got the name off babynamesworld and it was there where it said Topi = hope. Sorry again.**

Chapter 10 Reborn

"Why?" Matt in an instant grabbed hold of Topi and shoved him to the wall. The other fallen members ignored the battle but Tai and Kari immediately stepped forward.

Topi's eyes revealed he wasn't shocked from the reception. He turned to the members of the fallen, "Sisters, Brothers, if it be alright, I'd like to speak to them in private."

The cloaked people continued to eat their feast, except for the leader who nodded, "Very well, please use a different room however as we are still eating. We'll call you when it is time."

Topi pushed Matt's hand off of him, without much difficulty and lead them to another room. It was a fairly decent sized bedroom, with a bed on one side and a couch on the other. There was a desk in the corner and a large closet as well. Topi sat on the bed as he motioned for the others to go to the couch. The room was silent for a while, the tension was thick.

"Damn you... why did you lie to us all this time?" Matt was clearly upset. He was trying hard to hold back the tears.

Topi sighed, "I believe I have wronged you all... For that I apologize. I should never have met you all again in the first place..."

"That doesn't explain anything! TK, why did you lie to us about who you were? Why..." Matt was choked up.

"TK..." Kari's voice was quiet.

"Stop," Topi ordered, "I'm not TK... not anymore... The TK you knew," He paused, "Everything I know of TK and his life, they are faded memories, like dreams you made once upon a time. The TK you knew died when he was shot by that woman..."

_

* * *

_

One Year ago (approximately ch.2) – From TK(Topi)'s Point of View.

In one moment, it felt like TK was burning up in a sea of fire. He couldn't move my body to move away from that fire, hell, he couldn't even feel my body. He wondered to myself 'Why?' Why was this happening?

TK awoke to the sound of a woman's voice. She was singing a lullaby...

"Hush little baby don't say a word," she sang, "Mama's gonna buy you a mocking bird..."

Slowly he opened my eyes to my surroundings. The first thing he saw were a pair of eyes. Those eyes stared straight through me, unfocused as if staring off to space. The woman who owned those eyes was thin, and frail. She looked to be only 40 at most, but her face aged with sadness.

She changed the damp cloth on his forehead to relieve him from the heat a bit.

"Whe-" TK tried to speak but she shushed him.

"No baby, don't speak. Your sick but mama's gonna make you feel better," he recognized her voice. A flash of memories hit him and TK remembered her. She was the woman in the trench coat. The one who had attacked Kari and him. "Mama will make you all better. Cause Mama will never let her baby out of her sight. No, never, never, never."

"You ... aren't... my... mother." he told her. She frowned for a brief moment, her eyes constantly transfixed to nothing.

Her false smile returned. "Of course I'm your Mama silly-billy. You are just as funny as Papa. You look just like Papa too," she cooed.

TK lifted my head up and saw that there were bloody bandages wrapped around his chest. His arms and legs were bound to the bed. He tried to move but pain seized my body once more. My breathing fell short, and he noticed he began to sweat even more.

"No, no baby, you mustn't move or else your ouchie will open up again."

"You're the one who did this to me..." The blonde managed to spit out.

She stood up and ignored my voice, "Now Mama's gonna make you some soup so you can eat something yummy." She moved away from my vision as he looked around the room. From what he could see, we were in a tiny room, the walls were made of faulty wood, the roof was leaking. There was an oil lamp on the side table and a picture frame. The picture was of a young couple with the woman holding on to a baby in her arms.

His captor returned with a tray of food. She forced the spoon into his mouth and the soup had burned his tongue. "Isn't it delicious baby? Just like Mama always makes it," She cooed. The soup was disgusting. She force fed me until the bowl was finished. He spat up most of it, his stomach couldn't handle the concoction.

She went away to clean up, while doing so, TK tried to release myself from the rope. He failed, his body was weak. After a while he lost consciousness.

* * *

TK awoke seeing her in a wooden chair knitting something blue. Her eyes were distant once more. Her expression was lonely. "Oh you're awake again sweetie," she said a smile built on her face.

"Take me to a hospital," he groaned. The pain in his chest was getting worse.

"Never!" She cried aloud which surprised him, "Baby, last time you went to the hospital, they took you away from me, forever. The hospital is evil. I'll never bring you to the hospital!"

"I'll die if you don't," the digidestined of Hope pleaded.

"NO! You won't die, you'll be with Mama forever. Forever and ever and ever." He knew she was crazy. But she was lonely, her son must have died which caused her to go insane. He felt sorry for her, but even so, what she was doing was horribly wrong

Then the realization came to him. _I really will die if I wasn't treated soon. _That thought frightened him. He'd never live past eighteen. He'd never see his friends and family again. He'd never grow old and have a family of his own.

* * *

He coughed up blood. That was how he woke up that day. TK didn't know how long I'd been here. A week maybe. During that whole period the woman had only left him alone twice. Each time, he took advantage of it. Though his body was weak, he couldn't give up hope.

The second time she had left TK, he had finally managed to wriggle out of the arm restraints. As he sat up, the pain increased a hundred fold. He could have blacked out if he didn't force myself to keep going. He untied the rope around his ankles and attempted to leave the bed but fell over to the dirt floor. He couldn't walk so he crawled. Each simple movement was like a stab in the gut. Blood was flowing freely from the wound in his chest, blood was filling his mouth. The boy reached the door and managed to push the door open. He found himself in a small forest, in the middle of the day.

He trecked through the dirt and tried his best to keep his chest above ground. He probably went 10 minutes before she had found him. TK was probably only 500 metres away from the shack. Behind him there was a trail of blood in the dirt.

"What on earth are you doing?" The woman scolded him. She dragged his body back to the shack where she had kept him. She tied the boy up again, and decided to punish him. She took out a knife and started slicing his arms. They were thin cuts but the added blood-loss made him delerious. His vision blurred.

* * *

There was a time when he wasn't in pain. But it felt like it was a dream. But that dream was what kept me alive. He prayed... he hoped that someone could rescue him. Then maybe he could be happy again. He remembered my friends. He remembered the fun they had together. He remembered the digimon, and all of the adventures they had. He remembered Patamon, and his many forms. How they were linked together. He remembered his parents. He remembered Matt. His brother, the one who looked out for his most of my life.

And then he remembered Kari. Her smile. Her love. Her light. He remembered the smell of her hair. The smell of watermelons in the summer. He remembered running his hands through her soft hair and how it felt in his hands. He remembered...

* * *

"Sister, what are we doing here?" he heard a man's voice.

"I could smell the reek of death in this place." a young girl answered him. TK opened my eyes and saw two blurred figures in the shadows around me.

"Kari?" he mumbled out unconsciously.

"Oh ho," The man said, "So he's alive?"

"It appears so," the girl confirmed by pressing her fingers against his neck to feel the beat of his heart. They were as cold as ice. "His heart is faint. It is only a matter of time before his passing."

"Shall we put him out of his misery?" The man asked, "Despite his appearance, he looks quite tasty."

"You love your blondes do you not?" She kid.

"Well they are the most delicious. Since we came to Japan, we haven't seen many."

His stomach turned, "No... don't kill me..."

"He seems to have some life in him," The man said suddenly sounding bored.

The girl moved even closer to TK. He could see her face. She was very young. Only 12 or 13. She had short brown hair that cut off at her chin. Her eyes were light. Blue maybe. She stared at him intensely for a while. Then she turned to the man next to her. "He has a kind heart. I could tell. It's pure and full of goodness."

"Very well. Do as you must, Sister," He waved her off. "I'll return home and inform the others of your intention. _If _he does not perish, we will be ready." He disappeared before my eyes.

The blonde couldn't believe his eyes, he had to blink to confirm. "Where'd he go," he asked the girl.

"Home," She said simply. She changed the subject, "What is your name?"

"TK...TK Takaishi," he told her.

"Now then TK. I would like to give you a choice. I can see you are suffering. I want to take away your pain. If you would like, I can kill you right here and now. Or you can join me. I will make you immortal. However, once you join me, you can never return. You will live our way, and you cannot return to your old life."

She gave him a choice of life or death. "I can't go back... to my friends and family?"

"No. It will be for the best for everyone that way."

"I'll never see Patamon... or Matt... or... or Kari..." Death... death seemed good. He could leave this world happily. But if he were to live, he could stay here... even if she told him he couldn't go back... maybe... even once he could see them again... Maybe he was too afraid to die but the next words out of his mouth sealed his fate. "I want to live... I don't want to die..."

A smile crept her lips. "Very well. TK Takaishi, you will be reborn as a Fallen." The room around them changed. TK felt light. They were in the vastness of space together. For some reason, they had no clothes. His body was healed. There were no scars or blood. He felt no pain.

"Where are we?" The boy asked her.

"Nowhere... everywhere, one cannot define where we are," she paused, "Are you ready?"

"Yes... there is no turning back now..."

"You understand, that although you agree to this... there is a 1% chance you will be granted immortality."

"I understand." Well... a 1% chance of survival was better than 0% chance that the other choice gave me.

She grabbed hold of his hands. A tingle went through his spine. "I, Amara Quinque, call forth the powers of our nature. I bring to thee this young boy, TK Takaishi, to be accepted in our fold."

An intense burning sensation errupted from his heart. He fell to my knees. The pain that came was worse than all the pain from that week of hell. It was definitely worse than being kicked in the nuts. TK tried to breath. But there was no air to breath. He looked up and saw the girl watch him in his suffering.

"You told me that you'd stop the pain!" He cursed at her.

"To relieve you of pain eternally, you must experience the worst pain possible... if you cannot handle this you will definitely die."

TK screamed at the top of his lungs. He wanted it to stop. But in his heart he knew he couldn't give in. It would have been easy to give in. But that's not the way.

Slowly he stood on his own without any help. The burning within his body was still there. He gave out one last scream.

* * *

Do you remember your birth? I do. Then again I wasn't born like any human. I remember when I had my first breath. Flexing my already made muscles, I wiggled my toes, moved my arms, and blinked my eyes. Then I noticed my surroundings.

All around me was fire. I saw that there was a body in a chair being charred and burnt. I saw a girl in the fire. But she didn't burn. I noticed that I too wasn't burning. Actually, I couldn't feel even the heat. It didn't register to me.

"Welcome, Brother," the girl called to me, "Welcome to the world."

I didn't know who she was but then again I realized I didn't know who I was either. She held out her hand across the fire and hesitantly I accepted. In that instant the fire subsided and my mind filled with words and pictures. I even received the memories of a boy named TK. It took me a while, but then I finally figured out everything. I was like a phoenix: born from the ashes of my past life. I stared at her face and smiled. "Hello Sister. Thank you for bringing me to this world."

I walked outside with her. I saw that the outside of the shack was still standing. I laughed. I found it funny. The sky was dark. There were strips of cloth wrapped around, and they were drenched in blood. I removed them to reveal an unscathed chest.

"Shall we go?" Amara asked me. I nodded. She ran off. To the normal eye, it would have looked as if she vanished, but really, she was just running as fast as the speed of light. I could see her though so I ran after her at the same pace... well maybe a little faster.

We entered a cave which turned out to be the entrance to a secret room with a lot of thrones lined up. "What is this place?" I asked her.

"This place is our home... well while we're in Japan. We have many different homes around the world." She told me. "Before we meet the others I'd like to talk to you about the laws we, the Fallen, must abide by..."

She told me everything there was to know about our kind. There is a hunger within us which must be sated. We must feed on the flesh of humans, else our sanity will be lost. But, isn't it funny? Humans believe the practice of eating humans is monstrous, doing so would cost you your humanity. The irony of that within our kind is amusing. Without humans, we will become souless monsters. She said she had witnessed this happen several times, comrades who refuse to eat humans, and she watched them deform. We, the Fallen, are immortal, we cannot die, we cannot be killed. Those who stopped feeding grew tired of immortality and allowed themselves to be consumed by their ferocious desire. Where they are now... I don't know, its forbidden for most to know about it.

Though we only need to feed on humans, we can eat other types of food for pure enjoyment.

The Fallen cannot stay in one place for more than a year, else we affect the balance of humans living in one area. Amara has been to almost every single place in the world, where humans flourish. That said, she's only ever been to Antarctica. However, though we cannot stay in one place for too long, it does not mean we cannot return to a single location. Areas with large populations have drawn my family back over and over again. Take Tokyo for instance, it is the largest city population-wise in the world, it is no wonder they had enjoyed returning to it.

We do not kill intentionally unless for the purpose of the feed. We are not so cruel as to kill for sport.

We must not let anyone find out about who we are. If they find out, we as a council will decide if they shall live as one of us or be our meal.

We must detatch ourselves from the human world. We are aimless wanderers... and so we must not leave traces of our existance too much intact. If it does happen the good ol' I'm leaving to another country and I don't know if I'll ever come back here usually does the trick.

As we are immortal, are bodies will never age. Your body stops ageing the second you through yourself into 'the fire'. Our skin is very tough, very little can damage it, and what is damaged will heal a moment later. We cannot be beheaded for our bones are impenetrable. If you attempt to shoot us in the brain, our bodies will reject it the brain will heal fast. If you attempt to damage the heart, it too will heal in a minute. We will not die ever. We don't even need to breathe oxygen to survive, we can survive in space.

Our bodies are also 10 times stronger than the strongest human, and as fast as light speed. When running, we are invisible to the naked eye to the point where they believe we have teleported.

"Could you tell me about TK Takaishi?" Amara asked me abruptly.

Instantly my mind sought out the memories of that boy imbedded in my head. "Yeah, what do you want to know about him?"

"Anything really... family, friends, life..."

"Well, from what I know he's a tall blonde kid, who's lived for eighteen years. He has a mother and a father and an older brother named Matt Ishida. His parents divorced when he was little that's why he and his brother have different names, his mom took care of him, while his dad took care of Matt... He has a girlfriend named Kari Kamiya... for some reason, when I think of that girl my heart beats a little faster... is that normal?" I was curious to that phenomenon.

Amara looked at me with caring eyes. "Do you know what happened to that boy?"

"He..." I paused, then sighed, "He's me isn't he?"

"Yes, and no..." She began, "When a human accepts the terms of becoming a Fallen, he or she endures a change... I do not fully understand it myself and I have lived this earth for over two millenia. But when a Fallen is born he or she comes out different. Though you retain the memories of the human you... you don't feel you two are the same do you? Never once did you think you were this TK Takaishi. Even now there is a doubt in your heart."

I thought for a moment. These memories in my heart, they are vivid like a moving picture, yet it only stays a movie in my mind. Something tugged at me saying that these memories don't really belong to the me now. "..."

"Brother, right now it maybe hard to understand, but in time you will realize it..."

When we finished talking, we walked through a door beside the last of the thrones to the right. There I was a bit suprised as eight hooded figures greeted me as I entered the room.

"WELCOME BROTHER!" They all cheered in unison. At once they removed the hoods of their cloaks. There I met eight beautiful creatures.

The first who introduced herself was a girl named Chelsea Quarts (Seat 4). She was a bubbly one. She was from America. Blonde hair tied up in a ponytail and blue eyes, she looked like a little cheerleader around 15 years of age. 60 years ago she was lost hiking in the mountains when Amara had found her hiding in the cave which was one of the Fallen camps.

Next was a tall, stoic man. He didn't speak, he simply shook my hand. He was old. Probably in his early 60s. His hair was greying. Chelsea told me he never speaks to anyone except for Amara. His name according to her was Viktor Shest (Seat 6). Other than Amara, Viktor was the oldest of the Fallen. Most of the others were quite intimidated by him. He was Russian but other than that, no one had much of an answer of who he was.

The next two were siblings They were from Japan as well. She looked like she was 30 years old. He looked only 10. Her name was Akira Qu. His was Atsushi Dix. Though Akira looks older, Atsushi is actually the older of the two. Yet Akira still acts very motherly towards her brother and thinks he is so cute. Atsushi, in reality, is a foul-mouthed spoiled brat. Being 10 for over 500 years seemed to have made him this way. He was actually lost in the forest one day venturing away from the village when Viktor had found him. Viktor was very close to killing the boy when Amara stopped him and gave Atsushi second life. His parents thought that Atsushi had been taken away by demons and grieved very much. Five years later, however his mother conceived Akira, and died doing so. It was her and her father for 16 years until he was killed by bandits. She was then married (by her uncle) to a man twice her age immediately. However after several attempts, she was unable to carry a child and thus her husband had many concubines. Fifteen years later she was farming when she spotted Atsushi playing with a dog. She thought he looked familiar so she followed him and asked him where his family was. He told her to fuck off and ran away. She spotted him several nights later at the edge of the forest and tracked him down. She watched him as he met with Amara and Viktor, and was caught immediately by the three. They granted her immortality. It wasn't 'til years later that the two found out their origins.

A tall black man from Nigeria talked to me after. He had his hair in cornrows and had mystifying grey eyes. His name was Ajani Saba (Seat 7) and when I first met him I could tell he had a huge bloodlust. Ajani was a warrior in his tribe 200 years ago when he and his friend were caught by Atsushi. Atsushi had killed Ajani's friend as he begged for mercy. Atsushi wasn't very warm-blooded. But when he was about to take on Ajani, Atsushi immediately took a liking to him.

The next was a very elegant Chinese woman, about middle age (Seat 2). She had her hair up in a bun. Her name was Hsiu Mei Liang. She was the daughter of the emperor and a concubine 350 years ago. As such she was raised as an imperial daughter in the royal palace. How she became a Fallen was for the sake of 'love'. She met Ajani one day, and was not scared by his presence (which Ajani still finds annoying). In fact she fell for that foreign, dark skinned man who appeared in the royal garden one day. She ran after him in the night and left the palace walls. Her husband found out and chased after her only to die himself by Ajani. Hsiu Mei never cried tears of sadness for the man however, as he was cruel and sadistic. She only fell even more for Ajani, her 'saviour'.

A man who looked to be about 40 slouched in his stance. He told me he was from Brazil and his name was Ricardo Uno. He had a suave look to him like a Latin ballroom dancer. Over a hundred years ago, he was just a fairly rich man at the top of life until his family was killed by his enemies. He swore revenge on them and grabbed a shotgun and hunted them all down. Atsushi and Ajani had watched from the shadows as Ricardo soaked himself in the blood of the dead. They had enjoyed watching him so they brought him forth to be changed. Since then Ricardo has only ever shown emotion when he hunts.

I recognized the last man's voice. He was the one with Amara in the cabin when they had contacted TK. He was from India. He was Eshan Ut (Seat 8) and he looked to be in his early 20s. He was a poor Indian man, who went off to war in the 1940s under the British Navy. Almost killed in action, in the Pacific Ocean, he was saved by a small transport vessel, carrying Atsushi, Ajani, Ricardo, Viktor and Amara.

"So what's your name, brother?" the cheerful Chelsea asked as she showed me around my new home.

"Well... a name..." to me it didn't feel right to be called TK. TK was that human boy. "...ummm I don't really have a name..."

She still smiled, "Right of course... You don't want to use that ol' name of yours. Take your time."

"Oh... thanks." I tried to smile back.

"I never liked my human name anyways," Chelsea continued, "It was Petunia Bettie Jessabel Smith. Uggghhh... that name was aweful. I think Chelsea's a much cuter name don't cha think?"

"Where'd you get your last name from?" I asked her curious.

"Quarts?" I nodded, she chuckled, "Silly me. Everyone here choses their last name based on a number. The numbers don't mean much 'cept thats the chair you sit on...Like me, Quarts is related to the number four. And I sit on the forth seat from the right always... Its tradition to have a seat you keep to. Let's see here... Brother Ricky's last name Uno means one, he likes sitting close to the exit, god knows why? Then beside him is Sister Hsiu Mei. Sister Amara's last name is like Latin for five. Brother Viktor sits right beside her, then its Brother Ajani, then Brother Eshan. I guess you'd know that Sister Akira's last name is the number nine and Brother Atsushi's name Dix is French for ten."

"So that's why those two have different last names!" I said rather loudly. The others laughed.

"Hmmm... I know you'll sit right beside me!" Chelsea said, "Than makes it your seat ... 1... 2... 3!" She smiled giddy.

"3? San? That sounds simple and nice," I thought aloud, "San would be a nice last name."  
"Alrighty!"

"For the first name... I ..." I scanned through all the names I could think of but none didn't really feel like me...

Her smile was soft and understanding, "I told you you could think about it. For now can I just call you Nii-Chan, Brother." (A/N: Chelsea is asking him if she could call him Nii-chan which is an endearing japanese term meaning older brother. Before when she said Brother or Sister she uses the english terms for it as does the rest of the Fallen)

"Nii-Chan? But your a lot older than me!" I protested.

"But you look older, so thus you look like a Nii-Chan to me!" She said

"Fine, fine" I sighed.

"Yes!" she cheered, and then stopped walking, "Oh here's your room, Nii-Chan." She escorted me to the room.

"Thanks," I told her.

"Take a nice long nap, you must be weak," Chelsea said, "Tomorrow we'll take you around town, and teach you the basics."

"The basics?"

"Yeah... hunting and stuff... well good night, Nii-Chan." That was my first few hours of being a Fallen.

**Part One of TK/Topi's journey complete. Part Two will focus on finding a name, hunting, and digimon. Please comment for I love getting feedback =D**


	11. Name

**Long wait I know... I apologize.**

Chapter 11 Name

"Basically hunting is an art. Humans are not easy to take since they have some intellect," Chelsea was explaining to me.

"So would one hunt, like they would hunt a deer?" I asked her curiously.

"Well, when you hunt a deer you just shoot them to stop their heart. Fairly messy and it leaves a trail. When you hunt for humans. You shouldn't leave any traces of them behind which will make local authorities hunt us down. You've got to make them 'disappear' off the face of the world. The best prey are the one's in forests, mountains, at sea etcetera, cause a multitude of things can cause the human to die. Animals can kill them, they could drown, they could be caught in an avalance... you get the picture. In the cities, try to look for the one's who are alone, especially ones without families or close relations, so that less people will notice. 'Street People' are the easiest. The police, and most of society will technically care less about these people. Sad, but it's the truth." Chelsea said. They were outside in the middle of the forest walking down to the main road.

"So what kind of meat do you feel like?" Atsushi said. He accompanied them, more for the thrill, "Those fuckers are fun to watch when they are captured." He was dressed in adorable school boy clothes... his choice of attack: playing the sweet loveable child who lost his mommy.

Chelsea giggled as she passed me a leather jacked. She analyzed me earlier that morning as she told me I'd be perfect to play a ladies man.

"First I'll show you how to hunt humans in the city," she said smiling.

They reached downtown Tokyo where there was a hustle and bustle in the city. Atsushi told me to watch from a distance as he and Chelsea showed him some tricks to obtain prey.

I watched Atsushi first. He found a young woman who was walking down a street on her own. I watched him as he shed false tears. The woman was sympathetic and agreed to help him find his lost mother. As she took his hand and walked with him, Atsushi turned around and gave me such a wicked grin I had to laugh. He was lucky to have that boyish charm, and that was easy prey.

Next I watched Chelsea as she flaunted her foreigner charm. She easily attracted a man who was alone. She talked to him for a bit and the next thing I knew she had him in her little hands.

"That stuff is interesting, but I don't think their techniques will work on a guy like you," I jumped when I heard the voice from behind me.

"Brother, you surprised me," it was Ricardo.

"You know they've got the cute factor going, but you're not a little kid or a girl. You'd probably do better with me helping you," he said smiling.

"You're probably right," I sighed.

"Well then let's go."

The evening was drawing close as we walked some shady streets. He led me to an area where there were many ladies of the night. Scattered through the many corners. Business men and others all hired them.

"These girls are the easiest to fall for us... especially since they work for money," Ricardo explained.

"So we just hire them and that's it? I don't think I'll learn much then."

"Well I'll teach you the basics of charming a woman. Just watch and copy... like a monkey," he smirked as he walked to a lone prostitute at the corner. She wore heavy make up and was fairly young. He gave her such a suave smile she swooned over him. He whispered in her ear and it made her giggle. She nodded and they walked away into the night.

I sighed. I changed my attitude and used my looks to get one. She was against a wall waiting for someone to pick her up for the night. I smiled. "Hi there."

She sized me up and gave a little smirk, "Hi..."

"So I was thinking that maybe you and I could have a little fun together."

She shrugged, "Sure why not?"

She took my hand and we walked off... Yeah, next thing that happened, wasn't the smoothest. I brought her to the park and couldn't think of anything else... in the end I gave up and gave her some cash to go home.

When she was gone, I heard laughing from behind the trees. "Smooth... ooh so smooth," Eshan commented as he revealed himself.

"Well no one's really been teaching me anything. I mean they show me how to flirt and that's about it."

"Hah those guys are the worst tutors ever. Brother if you really need to learn to hunt I'll teach you."

"Okay... I guess so."

* * *

The next couple of days were spent with Eshan teaching me the basics. Then moving on to more serious stuff. He taught me everything from flirtation and seduction, to the final moments of life for our human prey. It was exhilerating. The first time had human flesh... it is hard to describe... it was like my body was alive. Like I could feel something in my body awakening me. After that first time, I became better and better. Soon it was natural.

When I came home probably a week after I turned I saw something on the bed. They were odd devices that kept on beeping. Curious I asked around and no one could give me an answer.

"Those things? I found'em in your pants pocket when I was doing the laundry. They were the pants you wore when you came here so I'm guessing they're from your past life. I was curious myself, but I couldn't get'em to work so I left them in your room," Akira informed me.

I tried fiddling with it for a bit. And managed to turn it on the green device. As it opened I saw a symbol. It was like the shape of a sun with a ribbon flowing below it. That clicked a memory of that boy TK's in my head. Everything about the digital world flashed through my mind.

"The digital world... interesting," I said to myself. I wanted to see this digital world for myself, so I went out. I found an internet cafe and tried to open a portal to the world using the digivice. It failed. After a couple more frustrating attempts, I gave up and walked home.

But as I walked I saw managed to open the other device. There were messages splayed there... like emails I guess... In the memories I saw that this was called a D-tector. There were hundreds of messages. All from a single person... a girl in fact.

_TK, I hope you're safe. _

_I want to find you but I don't know where you are._

_Please come home._

_I want you to be safe, please message me back... give me a sign anything to let me know your still here._

_I want you here, I need you here. I need to be brave, I won't stop looking._

_TK, I will never lose hope, no matter how many tears I've shed, I won't ever lose hope. Somewhere out there, you're still here._

_TK, you are my hope, without you near me my heart is breaking. What will I do if you're not here with me? Not here to hold me, to give me that hope?_

_TK, I miss you. I miss you every moment you're not at home. I hope you're safe..._

This girl... this Kari, her words hit my heart hard. There was so much emotion conveyed through her messages and my body longed to be with her, though I don't understand why. My hands itched to write back and tell her that I am safe...

But I realized, I'm not TK. TK died, and this girl would die too if she knew. Or if I gave her false hope. I couldn't do anything to soothe her heart. It was best to leave her be.

I ran and found an abandoned scrap factory and tossed the devices there, hidden beneath the excess metal. After all it was for the best.

* * *

After that day my body kept longing for something I didn't have. My mind continued to relay memories of the dead TK. Over and over again I'd see them play in my mind. It was nerve wracking.

Days flew by and I began seeing the faces of those people in the boy's memories everywhere in the city. I didn't know if they were the real thing or not, but it was driving me crazy.

The others told me how it was common for this to occur during the first few days. It was a lot to take in, but after a while I stopped telling them. It was embarrassing for one thing, and another was that they might think that these memories will invoke something in me that would cause me to break the relation rule.

I kept it to myself though it was mind boggling.

As I passed by the beach one day I swore I saw her. The one who ran through TK's memories more than anything. Then I realized, it really was her I stared at her as she bathed in the sun's glows. Closer and closer I inched. There was something drawing me to her.

Before I knew it, I was right in front of her. She was radiant. But suddenly she stirred, she felt my presence and instinct told me to leave so I ran from her sight, before she could see me. I saw her look around and then she was called away by her friends.

It was her birthday so they sang her the birthday song.

"Happy Birthday," I blurted out without thinking. At that point I just bolted from the beach. I came to the forested area.

I calmed myself down. There was something about her that made my body strange.

"I saw that," said a cool voice. It was Hsiu Mei

"Sister," I greeted her, "what do you mean?

"That girl... she was part of your old life wasn't she?"

"I don't know what you mean?"

She raised her eyebrow, "Whatever... but if she is from your old life and I find out, you will be in trouble, Brother."

"I got it..."

"Oh by the way, have you decided?"

"Decided?" I asked her

"On your name. It has been a couple of months now. It'd be wise to have an alias to use for your hunts. Being the mysterious no name stranger gets old rather fast."

"I'm working on it." I said

"Very well, I'll get going then... oh and I hopeyou take my words wisely," She ran off as she said those words.

I had completely forgotten about choosing a name for myself. A name.. a name...it couldn't just be anything... I started wandering the streets of Tokyo, thinking of names... nothing seemed to fit me.

Then something in my mind stirred... I remembered the symbol on the green device. Then, I flashed through TK's memories, they had called that symbol the symbol for 'hope'.

I passed by that internet cafe I had been to that day and decided to walk in. I went on the internet and searched up the word hope. Thousands of listings came up. Different languages which translated hope. It took me a while until I found Tovias... hope in Finnish. It sounded a little formal for me though. So I went through a name database and bam 'Topi'. I liked it. Don't know why but I did.

I came home and Hsiu Mei was there alone, the rest were out. "Did you find one?" she asked me, though she knew the answer.

"Topi," I simply told her.

"Topi...interesting."

"Mhmm..." I headed back to my room without speaking to her any further.

* * *

The following months passed as life went on for me, and then that day came when the girl with the biggest crimson eyes I've seen. The one who haunts the memories of my mind. She was a little shocked to see me as I was as well.

Immediately she thought of me as that TK kid. Something in my heart sank, but I kept a straightforward face. She was cute. Unbelievably cute, but I can't get caught up in mortal affairs. Especially so, I couldn't meddle in the life of those involved in my previous life.

"I think you're mistaken. I'm not this... TK..." I told her, which, in a sense I believed to be true. I could see how all of this broke her. She ran off.

After that day I couldn't stay away. I kept returning to that place, in an effort to find her. But my brothers and sisters were beginning to be suspicious of my behaviour. I didn't care though, soon enough I was dragged into the world TK had left behind. I met Kari, I met Matt. There was something about seeing those people which gave warmth to my body.

"Nii-chan, what have you been doing lately?" Chelsea asked me one day when I getting ready to leave for the city.

"Just hunting... that's all."

"You sure about that? You know you can tell me anything, I won't be mad." I looked at her, she really was a little sister to me.

"No, no nothing's wrong," Though she was the closest of my bretheren I couldn't tell her what I've been up to. No I couldn't, what I was doing wasn't right.

I headed outside, but as I did, I saw a group of young men wandering around the forest. In the pit of my stomach, I felt there was something wrong. Usually, a group of lost strangers was just perfect, but I recognized every single one of their faces.

I didn't want them to get caught so I shooed them away, with a bit of resistance however. They all recognized my face as well, but it didn't matter. Getting them out of there did.

* * *

"I've been watching you," Hsiu Mei told me.

"What do you mean?" I asked confused.

"I warned you before, don't get involved, but no, you didn't listen to me."

Viktor was with her, his eyes glared down at me.

"I didn't do anything wrong!" I protested.

Viktor punched me in my face which sent me flying. Normally I don't feel pain, but I definitely felt my face connecting with his fist. "Yes you did. This is your 2nd and final warning brother. If you do this again, you'll have to speak to our Sister about this," Hsiu Mei said, she and Viktor left abruptly after that.

I needed to cool of so I took a walk in the city. I bumped into Kari again. This time she was with her brother. But what her brother told me that day, I would never forget.

"...TK was one of the most important people in her life. He probably cared for my sister as much as I do. He was kind and brave and caring. But he's gone now because he went down protecting Kari. Kari watched him disappear right before her eyes! You know how many nights she would cry herself to sleep? How many times she had blamed herself for what had happened? How she'd try her best to put up a brave face in front of our family? Our friends? Me? I watched her heart break, unable to stop it from happening. After a while, she began to heal. She was learning to live again day by day.

"And then you show up! You and your fucking face had to show up and mess her life again. Your face which looks exactly like that boy's. You caused her to gain hope which crashed in a second. Your face will always be a constant reminder for her, and I bet you're using that pretty face of yours to try and manipulate her. So that she'll fall for you. But the thing is, You are not TK! Whatever you want, don't even try to get it. I can see through your facade buddy. Even though I don't know all of your secrets, I bet none of them will ever help Kari, will it?"

I understood what he said.

When she smiled she made me feel. When she laughed she made my heart stop for a second. When she confided in me I had to smile. She gave me something that the dead flesh did not. But I was being selfish, and I was hurting everyone. So I thought it was only right to leave. I thought it was for the best.

**I shall now collect myself for the final part (I'm not sure if it will be one long chapter or a chapter and an epilogue yet) I really want to do the last part right. And next chapter will return to regular story mode. This parts kinda choppy sorry... but I Hope to finish the fic soon... **


	12. Decision the Final Chapter

**Decided to write the epilogue with the chapter. Thanks to everyone who read this story. I hoped you really enjoyed it. I'd like to thank everyone who commented. It really made me happy to read what you thought. I'd like to give each and everyone of you a big hug with the entire digimon adventure gang in tow. =D **

Chapter 12 Decision (The Final Chapter)

"Brother," Akira appeared at Topi's doorway, her hood was down. She was solemn, "It is time now, please escort them to the chamber."

"Yes," He replied and stood. The three digidestined had barely enough time to digest what they had just heard. Everything was happening too fast. They began to walk.

Kari was at a lost for words. She looked at her brother and he turned away, he couldn't face them. She looked at Matt, his right hand was dug deep into his pocket. His head was down, she could see he was trying to hold back his tears. She didn't know what to do.

Topi led them to the big chamber with the thrones. The stood at the center of the room, as the blonde joined his bretheren.

Amara, the leader of the group, was the only one who stood. It was like the meeting that the group had witnessed before them.

"Tai Kamiya, Kari Kamiya, Matt Ishida," she began speaking very formally, "The law of the Fallen is simple. If you learn of our existence you have one of two options. Become a Fallen, or die." There was a general mumbling amongst the group. Only Amara, Viktor, and Topi remained focused on the three.

"They should die, filthy sneaks."

"Nah, they seem fun, let them turn."

"They do look like they have a lot of potential."

"But they never should have come, and for that they should be punished."

They continued to argue amongst themselves when Amara stopped them with a wave of her hand. "However," she continued, "this is a special circumstance. One, in all my years, I have never encountered. These humans, they are a part of our Brother's past and as such hold attachment to him." She turned to Topi, "Therefore, I give you sole responsibility over their lives. What shall we do?"

Topi's eyes widened, "Sister, this is a heavy burden..."

"One I know you will take with great care."

Tai cleared his throat, "I know this is unorthodox, and that you usually pass judgement like you were gods among men, but I'd like to say something."

Amara raised her eyebrow, "Very well, we'll let you all say what you need to say." She sat down at that point and was content on listening.

"First of all I don't care if you're immortal or whatever, you are not gods." He said it so bluntly, "You play with human lives as if their dolls in your toy chest. I can't agree with the lives you live but I have no choice but accept it.

"I don't want to become one of you. And I also don't intend to die today. I want you to let us live. We know how to keep secrets, and we'll never tell anyone what we learned today."

"Keep our secret? That's what they all say. We cannot take that chance," muttered Hsiu Mei.

"We give you our word as digidestined that we will never tell a soul."

Amara looked at him, "I can feel your honesty, your courage and your pride. I shall take note of this." She turned to Matt, "I can sense you want to speak as well, please do."

For the first time in a while he looked up and stared into the eyes of each and everyone of them finally resting on Topi, though he directed his words at Amara. "For one whole year, I had to wonder what happened to my little brother. Was he dead, was he alive? Those thoughts boggled my mind. And then, just a few minutes ago, I finally learned. Everything that my brother did, he was brave. I accept that Topi is not my brother, but I only wish... I only wish I could speak to him one last time." He pulled something out of pocket, and finally spoke to Topi, "I know you aren't my brother, but... I want you to keep this. It belongs to him, so have it." It was the green D-3, the digivice of Hope, TK's digivice.

Hesitantly, The blonde left his seat and accepted the digivice. As he turned around something caught his forearm. He turned and saw Kari holding him.

Her eyes teared, "... ... ...leave..." Her words were barely audible.

"What?" he said, "I don't understand..."

She pulled his arm in full force, pulling him into an embrace. In his ear she whispered, "Please, don't leave me again."

Topi's eyes widened. He couldn't speak.

"I saw it in your story, even if you claim your not TK, the heart's the same. I can't bear to lose you again...I'll stay by your side."

At that moment there was a soft pink glow surrounding them. It was Kari...

"What's happening?" asked a wide eyed Chelsea.

"Settle down, Sister, just watch," Amara told her

A white light began to glow as well. Topi's head began to spin and then he bowed his head. The pink glow faded, but the white remained, surrounding solely the blonde.

After a silent moment, his head rose. A different aura enveloped him, it was warm. He saw brunette and gave a soft smile. He was a breath away from her face. He touched her right cheek with his hand and they touched foreheads. "... Kari..."

Kari couldn't control her emotions, her tears flowed even more than before. She pressed her lips against his. It was a soft, sweet kiss, but it also held such passion. "TK..."

"I've missed you."

"I've missed you too," she replied, "Please stay with me."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I chose this life, and now I must accept my choice."

"Then I'll choose to be a Fallen too. Then I can stay with you."

"Kari... please understand when I say this but don't. I wouldn't want this life for you, you're going to be eating humans to survive. Is that what you want?"

"Bu-"

"You have your whole life ahead of you too. Didn't you want to be a kindergarten teacher? And help change the world? The earth and the digital world? And what about your loved ones, Tai, Gatomon and our friends, and your mom and dad? Don't make them suffer through this again."

"I know I'm being selfish, but to have to lose you again, it might kill me anyway."

TK sighed.

"If you love me, let me be with you."

"If you love me, live your life for the both of us."

"Kari?" Tai interrupted, "I don't want to lose you, but I don't know what I'd do if you stayed sad forever..."

"Tai..."

The light TK emitted was beginning to fade.

"TK wait!"

"Kari, I'll tell you this. When I became a Fallen my soul split in two. Most of my soul is now Topi... most of it. So I won't be mad that you love him too. I think it would kind of be stupid to be jealous of yourself. But this small part of me, my personality, my essence has already passed on. I'll never return to the world like this again. So please live and I will be waiting for you when you die, the complete you." He turned to Matt just before he completely faded. "You too bro. I'll be waiting for you on the other side. But until then stay alive and don't do anything stupid." He gave him a smile.

"I won't little brother, I promise."

"Oh and tell Patamon I love him and I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye."

"Yeah." Matt said smiling through his tears.

The last of his light was fading. And Kari kissed him one last time before he faded completely.

His head dropped again and once again it rose. He was Topi once more. He looked at the digidestined for a moment. He didn't say anything to the three of them, instead turned to the Fallen, "Sister, I have given it a lot of thought... I beg you, please let them free and let them leave. I'll take full responsibility for them."

"Is that your final decision?" Amara asked him.

"Yes it is," He bowed his head in respect.

She thought for a moment and smiled, "Very well. Since this is such a special circumstance, I will allow it."

Viktor turned to her.

She smiled back. "Brother, rules were meant to be broken sometimes."

"Thank you..." Topi said, and then he turned to Tai, Matt and Kari, "You can go now."

Tai and Matt nodded in unison. Kari, however, stood still.

"Kari?"

"I... I still haven't made up my mind. I need to think about it," Kari said.

"But Kari..." Tai began, and then he stopped himself, "...Okay I understand."

"Kari if you chose this way, you won't be yourself anymore, you know that right?" Topi told her. She nodded back. "But if you live, you won't see me, Topi, again. But at least you'll live." he said her other option, "I want you to be happy so please think this through. I heard everything that other me said and I just want to say that even though I'm not really TK, I love you too." He kissed her on the forehead, gently.

Her heart pulsed. She closed her eyes and took a moment to clear herself. Finally she came to a decision...

* * *

Sora was praying hard as the light of day broke through the sky. They had spent all night searching for their friends. But they couldn't find them at all. Everyone was awake, worrying.

As those rays of morning broke through though, "EVERYONE! I SEE THEM!" Davis screamed. He was right. He saw the figures walking towards them from the darkness of night.

**

* * *

**

I wanted to write a little something for the epilogue. Don't you ever feel that when you write, you always want your characters to have a happy ending? But sometimes the best stories won't have the cheesy happily ever after. For this epilogue I had three scenerios: all of them started off pretty much the same way. But the endings were all slightly different. I'll talk more about this after you read the epilogues though

* * *

_Epilogue – 10 years later_

DADDY! DADDY! DADDY!" cried a little boy. He was bouncing on the bed trying to wake his father up. His brown hair was spiked up and he looked almost exactly like his father.

"Oww..." the father said as his son landed on his stomach, "You little... I'm going to get you." he started tickling his son.

"Stop! Stop Daddy!" he was laughing hysterically.

"Alright, but only if you get dressed," his father laughed, scratching his own mousy brown hair. "We're going to visit someone today."

"Okay!" with that the little tike ran of to his bedroom.

The phone rang and the father answered it. "Hello? Oh hey Matt. ... mhmm... of course I'm going, it's a special day after all. Ahh... pink and yellow roses... Is Sora coming? Her mother's sick, I'm sorry to hear. Yeah of course, I'm bringing my boy after all. Alright see you then."

He got dressed, ate breakfast and he and his son piled into the car. They drove for a bit and finally reached their destination. Tai parked the car and ushered his son through the entrance. He saw Matt was already there with his son and daughter.

"HEY!" Tai's son cheered as he raced to greet his friends. They all began to laugh and giggle with each other and asked their dad's if they could go off and play. They agreed and they raced off.

"Copy cat," Tai said as he noticed Matt carrying pink and yellow roses as well.

"Hey now, they were just perfect when you told me I just had to get'em."

"Alright alright, let's go." The walked over a bit and placed the yellow roses on a grave. The inscription read _Takeru "TK" Takaishi, Loving Son, Brother, and Friend._ Tai paused and turned to his best friend, "Do you ever miss him?"

"Everyday... but at least it's fine now."

The grave beside TK's already had flowers placed upon it, which shocked to the two of them. "Who?" and then they saw him. "Oh."

"Hello," The never aging boy said.

There was a brief silence between them. The boy stood apart from the two fathers.

"How are you?" Matt managed to ask.

"Fine, though finding a grave that supposed to belong to me was quite strange."

"Well, it was the best thing we could think of. Besides 'TK' did die."

"Yeah... dying, I wonder what that is like..."

"Mhmm..."

Then his eyes drooped down, "So when and how?"

Tai's eyes looked at him, "4 years ago. She was hit when a tanker came barreling down. The brakes were cut..."

The boy sighed, "... I thought she said she would live her life for the two of us..."

"Well there was nothing we could do..."

"Did she ever find someone, during that time?"

"No," Tai said, "But at the very least, in her short time, she lived her life to the fullest."

"Really?"

"Yeah... she never stopped caring for the world, and she had a lot of fun."

A smile appeared on the boys lips, "I'm glad."

Matt looked at the boy with kind eyes, "Do you ever regret not forcing her to be with you?"

"I could never do that to her. That wouldn't be fair." He paused, "Well, I should get going."

"Where are you off to now?"

"Italy," he smiled, "Ciao Tai, ciao Matt. Have a happy life." He disappeared before their eyes. That was the last time they saw him. Tai and Matt placed their matching pink roses on her gravestone.

Tai also took out two photos from his pocket, "Do you know? This morning I had the funniest dream."

"What what was it about?"

"Well I saw Kari in the dream and she was smiling. The scenery reminded me of somewhere. I think it was a meadow in the digital world."

"Yeah?"

Tai nodded, "She was running and then she jumped in the air. TK was there to catch her."

Matt gave a little smirk, "I hope they're happy where ever they are."

"Yeah." Tai placed the two photos in between their graves. Side by side. One was of Kari, the night TK had asked her out for the first time. She wore a cute pink dress and she was fussing over her hair when Tai had taken the photo. The other was of TK. It was a close up of his face and he was sleeping. Tai remembered how Kari had love this photo of him, because he looked so cute and innocent when he was asleep, though he was eighteen at the time.

"Kids, let's get going," Matt called out to them, "We're taking you out to eat." There was a roar of cheering as the kids ran after their fathers.

THE END

**I hoped you liked the ending. It really took me a while to decide how to end it. My first thought was that Kari was going to live and then she'd visit the fake grave of TK. There they would meet, but Kari would be like 80 by then. I thought this one was a little too tuck everlasting. Another option is for Kari to have chosen to become a fallen, but I felt that was more of a cheesy happily ever after for them. The third option was to have her to choose to be a fallen but she'd die because she couldn't go through the ceremony. This last one I couldn't really see, because she's a strong girl and she'd have been able to go through the pain. The path I chose, I guess was a little corny, she died early anyways kinda thing, but I felt this one was right.**

**Thanks again for reading. YOU GUYS ROCK =)**

**A little side note, who'd you think would make it as a Fallen? My guess Tai and Davis would be pretty funny.**


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